Ragnarok VR Online
by Zephryc
Summary: The life's of Kazuto and Naruto took a drastic change when they are stuck in a VR death game. Follow them in their journey in a different world where they will face dangers and trials to win their freedom back. Along the way see them grow and mature, find love and make hard decisions. Pairing includes NaruHina and KiriAsu. No harem. Rating might change in the future
1. Chapter 1: The Long Awaited Day

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Naruto and Ragnarok Online. I only borrowed the concept and characters from Sword Art Online, the characters from Naruto and the world of Ragnarok Online.**

Story Summary: Kirito and Naruto were both trapped in a Virtual Reality MMORPG called Ragnarok VR Online. To clear the game both of them will embark on a journey in the world of Midgard, explore every dungeons, fields and city in that world to find clues which will unlock their freedom. Death in the game will result in death in real life as well. With their life on the line, will they be able to beat their way to freedom or will they just be another name in the long list of casualty from the game Ragnarok VR Online.

* * *

**CHAPTER 1**

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and…" a blonde boy is quietly counting down when the bell rings signaling the end of the day at the school. The blonde boy was ecstatic when he heard the bell rang. This is because the end of school means he will be able to spend all the time to do something he had missed doing for 3 months. The blonde boy quickly packed his books into his bag and hurried over to a boy with jet-black hair sitting a couple of seat away.

"Kazuto!" the blonde boy address the black-haired boy. "Hurry up bro! The official launching is in 2 hours".

Kazuto while sighing can't help but to smirk a little. He too has been waiting for this day to come for the past 3 months. "Naruto, chill a bit bro. You've said yourself. We have 2 hours".

The blonde boy named Naruto replied "Yea I know, but I need to get ready for it. I'm gonna take a shower and stuff myself with ramen before diving. I'm going to totally pull an all-nighter on this one. Believe it".

The launching of the most anticipated VRMMORPG, Ragnarok VR Online has been the only thing on both the youth's mind for the past 6 months. 6 months ago, Kirigaya Kazuto and Namikaze Naruto were among the lucky 1000 players to be selected as a beta player for VRMMORPG, Ragnarok VR Online. The beta phase lasted for 3 months. Ever since then, most of their conversation is centered on the game. When the beta phase ended, their topic regarding the VR game reaches new intensity. In the 3 months from the end of the beta phase to the official launching of the game, they have carefully planned what they will be doing based on their experience during the beta in order to use the minimum time to gain the maximum resources. In a sense their attachment to the game is borderline obsession.

However, one can't blame them to be so obsessed with the game. After all, if you are one of the most promising Kendo prodigy Japan has seen, the attention and pressure to live up to expectation can be a little overbearing. It doesn't help when they are offered a sports scholarship to study at the top university in Japan when they are still have more than a year to go in their high school. Diving into a virtual world where sword fighting, something both of them are damn good at and live without any expectation to fulfill seems like a sanctuary to both of the genius Kendo practitioner to escape from the unwanted pressure put on them.

As Kazuto starts packing his stuff into his bag while Naruto is waiting for him, a group of girls approaches the two of them. One of the girls, the one with a long platinum blonde hair tied in a ponytail asked them shyly while shifting her posture left and right "Hey Naruto-kun, Kazuto-kun… Umm… The girls and I are going to have a karaoke session… Err… Do you want to come with us? I mean if that doesn't clash with your Kendo training or anything". The other boys in the class are crying anime tears and all have one thought "Damn it! That is Yamanaka Ino, one of the hottest girls in the school".

Not surprising anyone, both Kazuto and Naruto is very popular in their school especially among the girls. With Kazuto's pretty boy face and silent but warm personality and Naruto's wild looks and cheerful personality both of them are the top on "Boy I Want As My Boyfriend" list of every girl in their school. It doesn't hurt either when both boys totally kick ass with their Kendo skills. Both of them are also among the top scorers too in terms of academic excellence. Brains, brawns and looks – the perfect package.

Naruto turned his head to face the platinum blonde girl. "Oh… Hi there, Ino-chan". The girl blushed lightly at being call by Naruto with the suffix '–chan'. Naruto continued while clapping both his hands together and apologize "Err… Sorry Ino-chan. Both Kazuto and I have to decline your offer. We have a... a… a… practice session later". He then gives her one of his trademark smiles and a thumb up and says "Next time okay? Next time we will try to join you girls."

Noticing Kazuto finished packing his stuff; Naruto bid the girl farewell while Kazuto nodded politely to girls to tell the girls non-verbally that he too is sorry for not joining them and left with Naruto. The girls though disappointed, had hearts in their eyes as they were there to see of one of Naruto's trademark smile. It is a common joke among the boys that when Naruto gave one of his trademark smiles to a girl, the said girl will have her pants drop to the ground so fast before you can even say "Do me".

"Seriously? A practice session. Why do you lie? Is online game beneath you Naruto-kun?" teased Kazuto while walking with Naruto down the hallway.

"Hey, I'm not lying. We are technically practicing Kendo you know. Swing sword and stuff. Tell me which part of sword fighting we are about to do is not Kendo practice. We just do it in a VR environment instead of in the real world" defended Naruto.

While walking toward the school gate, Kazuto said to Naruto "Hey I hope you are kidding when you said you are going to go for a marathon playing the game. Cause today jiji wanted to have a practice session at 8pm. You know how jiji will take it when you skip one of his training sessions. May God have mercy on your soul cause jiji ain't gonna spare you any".

"Hahaha… Of course I'm kidding. Who would forget that about the training session today." said Naruto while sweating nervously.

Kazuto narrowed his eyes looking at Naruto skeptically knowing full well his best friend known since his childhood totally forgotten about it.

Even without speaking, Naruto knew he couldn't lie to his best friend. Hence with a heavy sigh, he said "Damn it. With the hype of the game officially launching today, I totally forgot about the training session with Hiruzen jiji today. Bro, how old is Hiruzen jiji anyway? You know, you should tell him to cancel the training tonight. Don't want him to overexert himself too much ya'know. At his age, injury can be very troublesome".

"Nice try, Naruto. You know jiji as well as me that he is perfectly capable of kicking your ass from your house to the dojo and still had enough strength to kick your ass back home after training. Not to mention, Kushina obaa will grill your hide if she knew you skipped practice".

The Kirigayas and the Namikazes are family friends. Kazuto's biological mother, Mikoto is Naruto's mother, Kushina's best friend. They are so close, that they are considered sisters by many people that know them. Hence, when Mikoto died in an accident with her husband when Kazuto is just an infant, Kushina tried to adopt him. However, the custody of Kazuto is given to Kirigaya Midori, Mikoto's younger sister. Since then Kushina always bring Naruto over to the Kirigaya's household so, that she can visit Kazuto from time to time. Through this visit, Kazuto and Naruto become close friends to the point they are considered brothers. Even Kushina had already cared for Kazuto like a second son.

It was also through these visits to the Kirigaya's household that Kirigaya Hiruzen, the father in law of Kirigaya Midori noticed the talent both Kazuto and Naruto had in Kendo. Being an avid Kendo practitioner and once a national champion, he wanted to bring out the full potential in the kids in the art of the sword. Hence he asked that if Kushina is willing to let her son come over to the Kirigaya dojo in their house several times a week for Kendo training. Kushina seeing this as a character building opportunity for her son gladly agree. Together with Kirigaya Suguha, Kazuto's cousin sister, the three of them train under the tutelage of the ex-national champion.

The training with a champion was always harsh. Especially when said champion is your grandfather. Kazuto had thought of quitting after 2 years of training. However, with Naruto there with him, he is able to have an emotional support from his best friend to last the torturous training. Hiruzen believes that if both the boys are trained separately, they have the talent to be a Kendo athlete. However, when trained together, not to be outdone and be left behind, both of them push themselves past their limit and improve at an astonishing rate worthy of being a legend in their own rights in the Kendo world. As a result, they have won every Kendo tournament they have participated in. They have never lost a match even against athlete a few years older than them. The only matches they had ever lost are when they are facing each other. While Kazuto and Naruto are the best of friends, in the sparring ring, they are fierce rivals.

"Alright alright… I'll be there" said a dejected looking Naruto. "So, I'll be seeing Kirito later?"

Kazuto nodded his head implying he too will be diving later before replying "You know, people don't usually use their real name for their avatars in online games". Kirito is Kazuto's alias in the online world. The name Kirito is taken from his name Kirigaya Kazuto. '_Kiri_' from '_Kirigaya_' and '_-to_' from '_Kazuto_'.

"Well, if I had such a lame ass name like Kazuto, even I wouldn't want to use it as a nickname" said Naruto while dodging a sudden punch from Kazuto. "Beside, the name Naruto is awesome. Can you imagine if I used your method to pick a nickname for myself? Namito… Man that name sucks (no offence to anyone named Namito out there). I just have a chill just saying that name out loud."

"Yea, I can totally see it. Fish cake is such a totally bad ass name" said Kazuto with sarcasm while Naruto throw him a glare. Kazuto continued when they reached the school gate before splitting ways "Well, in any case we'll meet up at the south gate after we have dived in all right?"

"No problem-ttebayo. You don't be late man. We only have limited time. I wanted to maximize my time there" said Naruto before turning toward the opposite direction where Kazuto is heading and run back to his home eagerly to get ready to play the game that he has been waiting for 3 months.

* * *

_**A few minutes before the official launch of Ragnarok VR Online**_

The two boys are setting up their Nerve Gear in their respective room. The Nerve Gear is a helmet-like console where the user can experience Full Dive which is a term used for immersion into a virtual environment. Satisfied with their work, both of them lie on their bed and strap the Nerve Gear to their head. Wearing the Nerve Gear, they waited with excitement until the official launch of the game. Both of the boys are paying close attention to the time at the monitor of their Nerve Gear. The moment the digit 59 turns into 00. Both the boys shouted "Link Start" and they can feel their senses starts to fade away.

After being prompted to input their username and password, there is a blinding light that seems to consume them. Moments later, Kirito and Naruto open their eyes and notice they are at the Central Square of the Capital City of Prontera. All around them, they noticed there are a lot of blue light that shines a moment before the lights fade away and a person materialize there. Not wanting to waste any time, both of the boys rushed to the rendezvous point where they are going to meet up with their friend. Since the square is quite big, they are unable to find each other with new players constantly materializing at the square. Hence that is the reason they decided to meet the South Gate instead of the Central Square.

Naruto is the first to reach the rendezvous point. On his way there, while running towards the South Gate, he passed through the NPC's and the building he had missed during the past 3 months. He also notices a lot of the other players are chatting with each other.

Naruto need not have to wait much long before Kirito is seen walking towards him. Kirito sports a different look than he usually is. This is common practice where one tends to design their avatar to be ridiculously good looking. The same is to be said of Naruto. The only reason they can easily recognize each other is because they use the same avatar they used during the beta test.

"C'mon Kaz… I mean Kirito. Let's get going already. I intend to farm at least 10000 zeny before logging out. The starting equipment is pathetic" said Naruto the moment he saw Kirito walking towards him.

This game Ragnarok takes place in a world called Midgard and the currency used in Midgard is called zeny. Prontera is one of the many cities in Midgard. The creator of Ragnarok VR Online, Kayaba Akihiko is truly a genius. Not only did he create such an amazing world, the NPC's and monster that populate this world also seems to be very life-like. No wonder it is the most anticipated game of the decade. When the concept of the game was announced 7 years ago, a lot of the people especially the gamer's community is skeptical with the game. However, despite their heavy critics, the gamers can't help but be excited with this new concept of playing game in a virtual world. This game would be the first of its kind and if proven successful, this could pave the world to a new type of technology. Even the government gave their support to the company that produces this game, ARGUS Corporation as the Full Dive technology can not only be used in the entertainment industry but also in medical, tourisms, education and even in the military industry.

"Can't I even take a moment to take a breath?" said Kirito though he is just as excited to go to the field to kick some monster's ass.

They step right into the portal at the gate before a blinding flash blinded them a moment and they were teleported to the map south of the city of Prontera. When they regain their sight, a field with some hilly terrain meets their eyes. There is trees and bushes here and there but they are not too many of them and are sparsely distributed throughout the field.

"OH GOD! I HAVE MISSED THIS VIEW SO MUCH!" shouted Naruto. Even Kirito give a slight smirk as he too is feeling the same as Naruto.

"Naruto" Kirito called out to Naruto. "If you wanted to farm 10000 zeny before we logged off, I think it is better if we farm at a different location. Porings, Lunatics and Fabres won't give us that much zeny in 2 or 3 hours of grinding. You know, with our experience from beta test and Kendo training, we can probably take our chance on stronger mobs like Thugs. They have a higher equipment drop rate compared to the other mobs. At this early stage these equipment will have the highest value compared to the other type of loots. Those humanoid class mobs even give zeny whenever they are defeated. They will be the best method to farm for zeny at the moment. But I don't really want to face them now. We are just level 1 at the moment and our default equipment sucks".

During the beta phase, both of them realize that Kayaba is a perfectionist. Every movement of the AI monster is very realistic to the point their eyesight will set upon the player that they intend to hit. There are various classes of monsters in Ragnarok. Among the many class of monster, Kirito and Naruto like to hunt the humanoid class monster. As they are trained in the art of Kendo, they have been trained to counter any aggressive reaction from a human body since young. By now, they can properly read an opponent's movement and react instinctively. It is this ability that makes them such a powerful adversary in the Kendo world. This ability of theirs works to their advantage in the game as well, as they are able to defeat higher leveled monster at a lower level compared to other players. However, while the humanoid class monster does give higher drop rate in equipment and drops zeny when defeated, this class of monsters also has a more complex algorithm in their attack pattern. Unlike the other classes of monsters, the humanoid class monsters are generally a much smarter AI compared to the other monster class as they can react to a player attack to a certain degree making them unpredictable. Hence, unless a player is used to combat against human in the real life, they tend to stay away from the humanoid class monster.

"Hmm… Thugs huh? Yeah I agree with you. It's too early to fight them. With our current equipment, fighting them gonna be a pain. We can probably take 2 or 3 of them together but those bastards are aggressive. When they start ganging up on us, we will have to flee and I'm not confident with my current AGI stats that I can outrun them. So, what else that gives good EXP and zeny that we are more comfortable fighting?" said Naruto thinking.

Kirito think for a while before snap his finger and start walking south. "All right, I have the mob that fit the bill and they are just nearby. They even spawn at a nearby river. We can chill there if we get too tired as they are not aggro and doesn't attack in a pack".

Naruto followed Kirito while trying to remember what monsters can be hunt there before the he get what Kirito wants to hunt. "Aha… Roda Frog it is".

* * *

_**About 2 hours later**_

Naruto and Kirito are farming in one of the field just outside the city walls, there is a sudden notification which caught their attention. Deciding to take a break anyway, Kirito reads the notification.

"So, what's it about" asked Naruto walking towards Kirito.

"Hmm... The message says there is an opening event to celebrate the official launching of Ragnarok VR Online. They ask everyone to meet at Prontera's City Central Square at 6" Kirito replied with a tick on his forehead. He continued "Damn it, Naruto. You received the same message. Why don't you read it yourself? Then you will know what it is about."

"Maa… maa... Chill man. Why read when I've got my own personal reader. Hahaha…" teased Naruto. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go man. It's 10 minutes to 6. I don't want to miss the opening event cause you are tardy, Kirito."

"Hah! Naruto lecturing me being tardy. Fine then, next time you are late for training again, I won't bother covering up for you. I wonder what Kushina obaa will do if jiji told her if her Naru-chan is late for training when I run out of ideas to cover up for your tardiness eh?" said Kirito smugly.

Hearing that, Naruto paled. Kushina is Naruto's mother. She is a very strict woman. Kirito being childhood friends with Naruto, knows that the only person capable of instilling fear into his hard-headed friend is his mother. Immediately Naruto drop on to his knees and bow down to Kirito and said "Sorry Kirito-sama. Please forgive the insolence of you humble servant".

"Baka" is Kirito's only reply with a sweat drop down his head.

"Hehe. So, come on. Let's go to the Central Square" said Naruto getting up from his previous action while rubbing the back of his head.

Kirito with a deep sigh said "If you have read the message, then you will know there will be a forced teleportation to teleport every player in the server to the Central Square 5 minutes before the event starts. The purpose of the notification is to notify the players so that they won't be too surprised when they are teleported to the Central Square later".

The both of them continue their conversation and laughing once every so often while waiting to be teleported not knowing less than 10 minutes later, their life will forever be changed.

* * *

A/N: As you have read, instead of the 100 floor of Aincrad, I have used Ragnarok Online (a pretty famous MMORPG from my part of the world) as the setting. I choose this because, I don't want a linear progress to the story and since I'm familiar with RO, i used that world instead. In Aincrad one have to beat a level before they can continue to the other level. In my story, I decide to give the players more freedom. Before one say how they are going to clear the game without any clear direction, the conditions of clearing the game will be explained in the next chapter.

However to those that are familiar with RO, it wouldn't be the same as the game as I will completely change the whole concept of the game and add in my original ideas into the game. The only similarity will be the name of towns and some monsters. Even the location of the town will be different with the game.

I will also bring in more characters from other franchise other than Naruto and SAO. I try to not use too many OC's in my story as this gives the reader a hard time imagining them. So, I'll be using some famous characters so that the readers will have easier time to imagine the characters. Though don't expect them to make an appearance early in the story. They will not appear until later in the story. I will try my best to not make them too OOC but sometimes it's can't be helped.

This is my first fiction and I expect to learn more from the more experience writer. I will even take constructive advice from readers to improve my writing. However, please refrain from flaming and I **will not** tolerate them. If you don't like what I write, I'm pretty sure there are thousands of other fictions out there that suits you.

Till my next update, Zephryc.


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Midgard

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Naruto and Ragnarok Online. I only borrowed the concept and characters from Sword Art Online, the characters from Naruto and the world of Ragnarok Online.**

This chapter is a little short. Hope you all don't mind.

* * *

CHAPTER 2

"Boy, am I glad this is happening in a VR environment. With these many people gathering here, if this is the real world, I did be sweating like crazy" Naruto said while looking around the Central Square seeing the crowd gathered at the location where the opening event will start soon. It has been about 3 minutes when they are forced teleport to the Central Square. Every player that is logged on at the moment is in the square.

Kirito silently agree with Naruto while appreciating the beauty of the city square. The Prontera City Central Square is the center of the Prontera City. From the Central Square, there are four roads which lead straight to the city gates; namely the North Gate, the South Gate, the East Gate and the West Gate. At the center of the square is a beautiful fountain where a statue crafted in knight-like armor riding a horse gallantly raising his sword in a position not unlike a commander yelling CHARGE before rushing into the battle as usually seen in the movies. Underneath the statue is the pool of water with streams of water flows into the fountain pool. The building surrounding the square gives off a Victorion-age feel. Even the lamppost gives off the same Victorian feel. The city square is indeed very spacious. It is big enough to fit 6 soccer fields in a 3x2 arrangement.

Everyone there is waiting there with excitement not knowing what kind of opening event it is going to be. Some are discussing what is going to happen in the event, some are sharing their opinion on the VR environment of Midgard. Naruto and Kirito are standing near the edge of the square leaning on to a lamppost. The reason they stay far away from the center is because the center of the square is the most crowded and Kirito doesn't like to be packed like a sardine in a middle of a crowd.

The crowd suddenly fell in silent when they heard a bell chimes from the nearby Prontera Church signaling the time is 6pm. "Ding" "Ding" "Ding" "Ding" "Ding". Immediately after the sixth ring of the bell, directly above the central square the cloud seems to take the shape of a cloaked figure starts to form. Before long, a giant with a hooded robe appear before the crowd. Not knowing what is going on, the crowd cheers loudly thinking this is the start of the opening event.

Naruto too was every bit as excited as the crowd cheering and shouting about. "Oh man, did you see that Kirito? That's like totally awesome" said Naruto clapping along with the crowd.

Kirito too was impressed with the opening show. In his opinion, the Game Master of the game must be a sucker for extravagant performance. Pulling off a giant red robe in the middle of a city will definitely be memorable. It is even harder to forget when the looking into the hood of the robe, there is no face. In fact, the hood seems to be empty as one could clearly see the inner cloth and the green embroidery inside of the hood. It was the same inside the robe; all we could see inside the rim were shadows. The figure also wears a pair of white gloves, the kind of gloves magician usually wears.

When the giant hooded figure is fully formed, the crowd starts to slowly grow silent as all the players gathered wanted to hear what the figure has to say. With the ominous crimson red colour of the giant robe standing taller than the other buildings and the twilight sky as the background, both Kirito and Naruto starts to feel a little anxious with the development.

The figure then slowly extends its arm and in a deep voice says "Welcome to the world of Midgard. My name is Kayaba Akihiko and as for now, all of you are in my world". The crowd cheers wildly from that statement while Kirito and Naruto narrowed their eyes to see what will be happening next. Both of them felt something is out of place with the statement and as a Kendo practitioner they have learnt to trust their instinct.

The hooded figure then lowered its arm while the crowd start to quiet down again. "As some of you have noticed, the logout button is not available". Hearing that, both Naruto and Kirito gave an alarmed looked to each other before quickly opening their menu. To their surprise, the logout button is indeed missing. The hooded figure continued "This is not a bug but a special feature unique only to Ragnarok VR Online. Until the game is cleared, none of you will be able to logout".

The whole crowd is now silent. Stunned by what they heard. Then somewhere is the crowd someone yelled "Come on man. Stop joking around. I had a date at 8 later. I need to logout by then dude". Another set of voice is heard saying "Yeah man. I have ordered some pizza. They say they will be arriving around 6.15".

More players start to voice their displeasure until the figure starts to speak again; "To clear this game, you must explore this world of Midgard. Clues are scattered across this world for you to find a hidden dungeon. The dungeon is only accessible when all the clues are gathered and Midgard is fully explored. As you have all known, your map will show nothing in an unexplored field of dungeon. By exploring the fields and dungeon, your map will automatically be filled. You can sell the data of your map at the Kafra Corp where the data will be shared with all the players. The clues for the hidden dungeon are item called _Historical Artifact_. These items can be obtained in a variety of manner. They can come in quest, they can be boss drops. These items can be sold to Kafra Corp as well and the information from these items will be updated to the library. The Kafra Corp will keep track of the progress of the completion of both tasks".

Naruto clenches his fist and growled. Then with a worried look he looked at Kirito. "This can't be happening right? This is kidnapping right? Yeah our body is still in our bed but… but… Argh…" said Naruto, bringing his palm to his temple in an act of confusion. He continued "Eh? Well, if I am not down for dinner by 8pm my mum will definitely yank the Nerve Gear off my head. So I should be able to…"

Before Naruto can continue further, the hooded figure drops a statement that would change how they will view their new world. "If you die in this game, you die in the real world as well. The Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain when your HP reaches zero. Any attempt to dismantle the Nerve Gear from the outside world will also have the same result. This warning has been made known to the government and the public through mass media. However, some stubborn relatives did not heed the warning and unfortunately 13 players had loss their life due to the Nerve Gear being forcefully removed".

"… FUCK MY LIFE" continued Naruto.

Kirito although didn't say anything, deep down he is feeling scared. Scratch that. He is scared shitless at the moment. A game where one will really die when the HP bar reaches zero. This scared the hell out of him. He can still remember the time when both he and Naruto are in the beta for this game. Both of them had died countless time during the beta phase. Kirito's leg is trembling and stumble back a few paces before Naruto caught him before falling flat on the floor. Kirito slowly turned his head only to see Naruto's pale face.

Everyone in the Central Square is deathly silent. The fact that there is already casualty so early after the launch of the game shook every player's core. Some younger players starts crying and some players just plopped to the ground, their feet unable to support them, fear taking over their being.

The figure then continued this speech. "There is no need to worry about your relatives dismantling your Nerve Gear. The death of your fellow players is widely publicized in the outside world right now. They will not do anything rash if they are concerned with your well being. In a moment, all your bodies in the real world will be transported to ARGUS Dive Facility. This is a new medical facility that can house 12000 patients. This facility is built with its own electrical source and you will be taken care of with the most advance medical technology. There is also a server at the facility to ensure you will have a lag-free experience playing the game. All of your medical cost will be paid by ARGUS Corporation. So you can relax and concentrate on beating the game."

Almost immediately, the crowd goes into frenzy as people starts shouting. Phrase like "Bullshit… This can't happen.", "Fuck you. Get me outta here.", "You fucking believe we are in the mood to play?" and a lot of creative and colourful swear words can be heard. Sounds of people crying and kids sobbing and saying they wanted to go home.

Both Kirito and Naruto are too stunned to do anything about it. They just looked up in the red hooded figure and think what they can do to get out of this predicament. Before they can further wonder what the people outside will do to help them, what the government will do to help them, the red hooded drop another news that is going to shatter all their hope for external help. "Please do not be so surprised with this turn of event. I'm sure you all remember before the log in window, there is another window that list all the terms and condition for all of you to read. All of you here have agreed to the terms and condition or else you won't be able to proceed to log in window. It is clearly stated in the terms and condition agreement that this will happen. If there is anyone to blame, it is your fault for not reading the terms and condition carefully. The government and your relatives can't take any legal action against us as there is a binding legal document that you all have agreed to".

Everyone paled at this piece of information. They all realize that every one of them got stuck in this shit because they are not bothered to read the terms and conditions. It was their fault that they are in their current predicament; being stuck in a death game.

"To help you in defining this is your new reality; I have a gift for all of you. In your inventory, you will notice there is an item that wasn't there before you are all teleported here. Please confirm this" said the red hooded figure with a voice that is void of all emotion.

Both Kirito and Naruto check their inventory by using their 2 fingers to do a swiping motion to bring out their menu. Navigating through their items, they found the said item. The item is named Mirror of Truth. Materializing the item, a small rectangle mirror appeared. A few seconds later, the mirror glowed blue and they too start to glow brightly. After a few seconds of confusion, Kirito looked at Naruto to see if he is all right. What he saw give him a little surprise. In front of him is not the white haired avatar Naruto used but the exact replica to Namikaze Naruto, his blonde best friend. The same could be said to Naruto when he looked at Kirito. The avatar standing at the spot where Kirito was standing turned into the familiar form of Kirigaya Kazuto. Both of them were stunned for a while until the Mirror of Truth in their hand shattered and break into pieces of polygons before disappearing.

"And with this I have finished the opening ceremony of the game Ragnarok VR Online. Players, I wish you good luck" with that the red hooded figure starts to disintegrate into millions pieces of polygon not unlike with the mirror just now.

The crowd in the central square was silent for a moment before all hell breaks loose. Some starts to shout. Some are in denial.

Kirito suddenly pull Naruto into an alley near them. In a low tone, Kirito whispered to Naruto "So, Naruto, what will you do?"

Startled with the question and the serious look on his face, Naruto ask "What do you mean what I will do?"

Kirito answered "Look, now that this has happened, it is important for us to get as strong as fast as possible. The resource in a MMORPG is finite. For example, there will not be enough room in this city to fit all of the players here at the moment. If my prediction is right, the beta testers will take the best farming spot around the city."

Naruto looked at Kirito and said "Erm… I'll follow what you have in mind. I have none at the moment. Knowing you, you probably had some good plan already".

"Well, I have planned to go to The Barn. Before that we will sell all the loots we have and buy some decent weapons. Then we head straight to The Barn to complete one of the quests there. By completing the quest, they will allow us to rent their empty rooms. We will make The Barn as our base for the next few days as The Barn is quite near to the Thugs spawn area. So, rather than going from the city to the farming spot, staying at The Barn will save a lot of time. Besides, the room in The Barn is much more comfortable than the ones the Inn have in the city. There shouldn't be many players that is going to venture so far out from the city when it is almost night time since the game time is synchronized with Japan's time. The agro mobs are more aggressive in the night so, even the beta testers won't want to try their luck since the game now is a death game. With the both of us, I think it shouldn't be too much of a problem getting to The Barn and completing the quest before 9pm" said Kirito laying out his plan and his reasoning.

"Yea... That's an awesome plan man. I dunno what I'm gonna do without you bro. I've got no problem at all" said Naruto agreeing with Kirito's plan. "Then, let's go to the NPC that sells weapons and armor in the city" said Naruto walking towards their next destination with Kirito.

After they had sold their loots and bought their equipment, the duo walked out of the south gate and head towards their next destination: The Barn. On their way to The Barn, Naruto notice the time is already 8pm and said "I can't believe I'm saying this but I kinda wished that I'm at your house dojo training with Hiruzen jiji"

Kirito walking beside him can only reply with a sigh "You are not the only one, bro. You are not the only one".

* * *

A/N: I use this chapter to explain how outside help won't be reaching them and the families can't do anything to force the company to shut the server down. The method I used might seems ludicrous (I don't know. I didn't study law) however I need the company to stay in business. They have a role to play. Also in this chapter is explained the method to beat the game. Since this is no longer Aincrad, I had to think a few different clearing method. The one I'm using requires a collective effort rather than putting everything on the one person's shoulder.

Till the next update, Zephryc.


	3. Chapter 3: We Believe In You

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Naruto and Ragnarok Online. I only borrowed the concept and characters from Sword Art Online, the characters from Naruto and the world of Ragnarok Online.**

Wow... That is a fast update. But don't be expecting them coming so soon in the future. I just have shit load of time at the moment.

* * *

CHAPTER 3

Kirigaya Midori is currently preparing dinner for her family in the kitchen. Her husband is still not back from work yet but he should be arriving any time now. Kazuto, her nephew whom she had adopted when her sister died in an accident is probably in his room while her daughter, Suguha is at the living room watching television with her grandfather. Hiruzen although is a strict instructor in the dojo, in the house he is your typical grandfather that loves to dotes on his grandchildren. Although Kazuto and Naruto aren't his grandchildren by blood, he had already formed an attachment to them like a grandfather would towards their grandsons. The fact that all three of them excel in his art makes him even fonder of his three young protégé.

The both of them were watching some drama when an emergency announcement from the government interrupted the show.

"Good evening. This is an emergency announcement brought to you by the government at the advice from ARGUS Corporation. If one of your friends or relatives is seen wearing a head gear called Nerve Gear which looks like this, and a picture of Nerve Gear is shown, please do not attempt to remove it from the person. Any attempt to remove the head gear will result in an emission of a strong concentrated electromagnetic wave to the user's brain effectively killing the person in an instant. Please do not unplug the power cable and LAN cable from the Nerve Gear as this too will result in the death of the user in the same manner. If you know anyone that is currently wearing Nerve Gear, please do not hesitate to contact the hotline shown below. A medical response team will be dispatch to your location at once to transport the person to a facility where proper care will be given to the users." said the news reporter before the channel return to the drama with a news feed at the bottom of the channel saying 'NERVE GEAR MEDICAL RESPONSE TEAM HOTLINE : 100-115-4357." The top news feed however is a written copy of what the reporter had reported just now. Every other station had the same top and bottom news feed on their channel.

Recognizing the head gear Kazuto bought 6 months ago was similar to the Nerve Gear shown, Suguha gasp in horror.

Hiruzen hearing Suguha gasp had a foreboding feeling in his guts after watching the emergency broadcast and asked his granddaughter. "What's wrong Sugu-chan? You know anyone that had this head gear?"

"I… I remember Kazu-nii had a similar head gear" said Suguha staring at Hiruzen's shocked face.

"Whe… Where is Kazuto now?" said Hiruzen in a worried tone while standing up from the sofa.

"Tou-san, what's wrong? I think Kazuto is in his room" said Midori approaching them while wiping her wet hands on her apron.

Hearing that, Suguha rushes to her brother's room upstairs with Hiruzen and Midori following. When they reach in front of Kazuto's room, she tried to open the door but it is locked. She knocked on the door loudly and called out "Kazu nii, open the door". After a moment when there is no one replying, both Hiruzen and Suguha mind starts to imagine the worst case scenario. Midori quickly left to find the spare key to Kazuto's room.

Minutes later, Midori return with the key to Kazuto's room. She unlock the room to see the still body of Kirigaya Kazuto lying on the bed with the Nerve Gear strapped to his head. Suguha gasped and instinctively cover her mouth with her hands while tears start to fill her eyes. Midori saw Kazuto's still body and move towards Kazuto to wake him up not knowing the consequences of forcefully removing the Nerve Gear from the user since she is not there when they made the announcement just now. Before Midori can touch the Nerve Gear, Hiruzen stopped her. "Don't Midori. If what they say is true, then waking Kazuto up will probably kill him."

Hearing that, from her father in law, Midori gasped in horror and like Suguha, she covered her mouth with her hand before asking Hiruzen. "What… What do you mean tou-san that waking Kazuto up will kill him?"

Hiruzen then explain what he heard from the emergency announcement to Midori. When he finished, Midori fell down, her strength left her knowing her that her nephew whom she treated like a son is in this precarious situation.

They were silent at Kazuto's room for a few minutes letting their current predicament sinks in. It was Suguha that broke the silence when she asked her mother "Kaa-chan, should we call the hotline. Maybe they can get the thing off Kazu-nii".

Hearing that, Midori replied "You are right Sugu. I'll call the hotline and have them come here" before leaving the room.

Then Hiruzen told to Suguha "Sugu-chan, can you give Naruto a call that today's training session is cancelled? I don't think I can…"

Suguha suddenly had another gasp and she unintentionally interrupted her grandfather and said "Naru-nii is probably is in the same condition as Kazu-nii. For the past few months, both Kazu-nii and Naru-nii had been talking a lot about a topic. I'm not sure what they talked about but I'm pretty sure the topic is related to the Nerve Gear one way or another".

As if his grandson is in this predicament is not enough, now even Naruto who he sees as a surrogate grandson might be in the same situation. Hiruzen with a worried look went out of the room to use the telephone to contact the Namikazes. He wanted to prevent anything worse happening to the both of his surrogate grandsons if he can help it. Knowing the kind of bond Kazuto and Naruto shared, it is very likely that Naruto too is in the same situation as Kazuto.

* * *

_**Namikaze residence**_

Naruto's father, Namikaze Minato returns from work a few minutes ago. He is now currently sitting at the living room switching on the television after a long day at work. He is watching the news channel when the reporter is reporting on an incident in Tokyo that is related to a head gear called Nerve Gear. Meanwhile, his wife Namikaze Kushina is in the kitchen preparing dinner.

When he smelled an enticing aroma from the kitchen, Minato asked his wife "Kushi-chan, isn't that too early for dinner?" Although they have been married for more than 17 years, they are still very affectionate with each other. They are truly the embodiment of love in today's modern Japanese marriage. This sometime irks Naruto to no end when his parent being all lovey-dovey with each other in front of him. It's not to say Naruto wasn't happy for them. In fact, he was very happy that his parent still loves each other very much after such a long marriage but as a boy these things tend to put a nerve on him. However, he was also a little envious of his parent being able to find a soul mate that fit each other so perfectly. He too hoped to find a special person so that he can experience what his parent experiences. Surprisingly even though he had a legion of fangirls, he never dated any of them. Having a parent like Minato and Kushina set Naruto's opinion that love is sacred and he should only date the 'special one'.

"Mina-kun, Naruto will have training session with the Kirigayas at 8 later. So, I prepare the dinner earlier" replied Kushina.

"Oh… Then where is Naruto now?" asked Minato.

Talking about his son always brings him a sense of pride. His son had this one indomitable spirit where he wouldn't give up until he accomplishes his goals. With his never give up attitude; both Minato and Kushina know Naruto will go far in the future. However, it is the same attitude that causes them to constantly have to worry about their son as they are afraid that Naruto will get himself seriously hurt, not knowing when to stop, retreat and try again.

Luckily for them, their son had a good friend in Kirigaya Kazuto. The boy is like a second son to them. When Kushina is unable to adopt her best friend's son after the unfortunate accident, she was disappointed. However, she realized that Kazuto still have a family albeit an extended one, so she dropped the adoption for Kazuto. They can clearly recognize Kazuto's features are mostly from his mother, Mikoto. The jet-black hair and the onyx eyes are definitely Mikoto's. He even inherited her pretty face. They had once joked that if Kazuto grew his hair and wore a dress he did be as pretty as his mother. Personality wise, Kazuto tends to be more passive and think things through. Unlike Naruto who prefer to tackle a problem head on, Kazuto prefer to work around the problem. Metaphorically speaking, Naruto is the drive to push them towards their goals no matter how hard the situation is, while Kazuto is the brake who will tell them if they are over their head and try to find a way around their problem or to retreat and try again.

"Naruto is probably in his room doing his homework. He won't have time to finish after the training being tired and all" deduced Kushina. "The dinner will be serving soon. Mina-kun, can you go and get Naruto?" said Kushina while she is setting up the table for dinner.

Minato stood up from his seat and were about to get Naruto down for dinner when the telephone rang. "I'll get the phone first" said Minato. "Hello, Namikaze residence... Stop Suguha. You are talking so fast that you are not making any sense. Tell me everything from the start clearly. Don't rush."

Through the telephone, Suguha mention Kazuto is one of the victims in the Nerve Gear incident and that the precaution to not forcefully remove the head gear is explained. Minato was shocked to say the least as he has known Kazuto since he is a small boy. However, it wasn't until Suguha mentioned Naruto might be one of the victims of the incident that panic starts to sets into Minato's being. Noticing Kushina had already set up the dining table and nowhere around the kitchen or the dining room, he immediately drop the telephone and rushed to Naruto's room figuring that Kushina will be going to get Naruto seeing he was talking on the phone.

When he reaches the second floor, he saw the door to Naruto's room is open. Dread starts creeping into his body and he yelled "STOP KUSHINA. DON'T REMOVE THE GEAR FROM NARUTO" not knowing whether their son is really using the Nerve Gear or not while sprinting to his son's room hoping he is not too late.

Kushina meanwhile notice her husband was talking on the phone. So, she decided she will tell Naruto that dinner is ready. She walked into her son's room to notice the room is very dark with the curtain closed. She switched on the light to see that her son is lying on his bed with a helmet-like gear strap to him. Feeling slightly angry at Naruto for not doing his work, she goes towards her son planning to yank off the gear and give him a piece of her mind. She is about to remove the head gear from Naruto when she heard her husband yell. Startled with her husband, she withdraw her hands immediately from the Nerve Gear on her son's head and turned her head towards the room's door where Minato ran into view moments later. She notices her husband's face is very pale and is about to ask what happen when she saw him rush towards her and embrace her while pulling her away from Naruto's still body.

Minato said in a weary voice "Kushina, listen to me carefully. Under no circumstances we are to remove the head gear from Naruto".

Kushina giving her husband a curious look is about to ask him about it when Minato continued "I just got a call from Suguha…" and he began to explain what is going on to his wife. He told what he knows from what Suguha. She told him through the phone that they are not to remove the Nerve Gear forcefully or the gear will emit a powerful electromagnetic wave which will fry the brain of the user. He even told her that the news have been reporting on this incident today and Naruto isn't the only victim here.

Hearing that news from Minato, Kushina's eye widen and tear start to filled her eyes. It wasn't long before tears start rolling off her cheek and she started crying into Minato's chest while still being embraced by her husband. Meanwhile Minato is hugging her wife close to him trying to comfort her wife while using her presence to comfort him as well. The only sound coming from the room is Kushina's sob.

* * *

_**Kirigaya Residence**_

About 30 minutes after Suguha called the Namikazes, the response team arrived at their house. They move to Kazuto's room and gave him a preliminary check. Then one of the personnel uses a gadget and plugs the gadget into one of the slots on the Nerve Gear. They waited until the green light on the gadget light up before unplugging the LAN cable and the power cable from the Nerve Gear. Suguha is about to shout at them to not pull out the cables when one of the personnel told her not to worry. The gadget is a wireless modem with a battery pack which picks up the data from the satellite while supplying power to the Nerve Gear. It is meant to fool the Nerve Gear that there is still a constant electrical supply and data transfer so that moving the patient to the facility can be done effectively.

When Kazuto is safely transferred to the ambulance, they were told that one immediate family may follow them. The rest will have to drive there. Not knowing where the facility is, one of the personnel gave them a card with the facility's name and address. Midori immediately said she will be the one following them. When she climb into the ambulance, she told her daughter "Suguha, wait for you father to come back before coming to the facility" which Suguha only nodded.

Before they leave, Midori asked one of the personnel from the response team "I know a friend of mine is also in a similar case with my son. Is it possible to pick him up before going to the facility?"

The said person look around the ambulance and it still has enough space for one more person. Seeing that the boy is not in any life threatening situation, he agreed to it. "It shouldn't be a problem Ma'am but you'll have to guide us to their house."

Thanking them, Midori replied "Sure. That wouldn't be a problem".

About 15 minutes after Suguha called the Namikazes, they receive a phone call from Naruto's father that Naruto too is in the similar situation with Kazuto. That is why Midori knew Naruto too have a death machine stuck to his head.

When the ambulance reaches the Namikaze residence, everyone except Midori left the ambulance as Midori wanted to stay by Kazuto's side at all time.

About 10 minutes later, the door to the ambulance open and Naruto's still body is being lifted into the ambulance. Like Kazuto, Naruto's head gear is attached with the same gadget. When Kushina went into the ambulance, both of them hug each other to find comfort from each other. Both mother notices that both of them had red puffy eye and tear stained cheek which tells them that they have been crying all this while.

After Minato requested for the address to the facility from one of the personnel, he kissed his wife on her cheek and told her that he will be there soon.

* * *

_**ARGUS Dive Facility**_

It has been an hour after both Kazuto and Naruto were admitted into the facility. The two mothers requested that their sons be placed in the same room when they found out that most of the room in the facility is a twin room. The staff is more than willing to put both of them together as they need not need to have a headache to sort out the room placement for the patients. It also helps when Kushina is pretty adamant about their kids being put into the same room.

Not long after Kazuto and Naruto are admitted into the facility and are placed in their room, Minato and the Kirigayas arrived at the facility. They were given an explanation by the staff in the facility. They were told that both of the boys are now dived into a virtual reality game where they have to beat the game to wake up. Dying in that world will result in death in the real world as well. Then they also explain a lot of technical stuff about Nerve Gear that most of them didn't understand. What they know is that the boys will not respond to any outside stimulus as any sensory impulse signal will be intercepted by the Nerve Gear before the reaching the brain. The virtual environment they experience is loaded from the game in the Nerve Gear which then sends electrical signals to the brain. Also, when the brain reacts to a situation they experience in the virtual environment, the brain will send a reaction impulse signal which will be intercepted by the Nerve Gear and then the Nerve Gear will interpret the signal and their avatar will react accordingly. The moment the Nerve Gear sends the information to the brain to the Nerve Gear processes the reaction signal from the brain to the avatar interpreting the reaction signal to react in the virtual environment is instantaneous. That is to say there is no lag time between their avatar senses an action to their response to said action. So, in a sense, their boys are actually living in a different world rather than being in a coma.

However, Kushina is livid when she learns that her baby is involve in a death game. She was about to go and find an attorney to sue the company that causes this incident before the staff further explain to them that they all have already agree to the terms and condition when they install the game In the agreement, it is clearly stated that such an incident will happen and the company will not take any responsibility. Since they have a log that list every IP address of the Nerve Gear that have agree to the terms and conditions and Naruto's and Kazuto's Nerve Gear IP address is one of them, there is nothing they can actually do to free them from their virtual prison without risking their children's life.

Hearing that, even Minato had to agree that ARGUS has pull off a very smart move. He understands that people don't usually read the terms and conditions anymore especially when installing any programs or games. He knew it because he was once young too. He too installed all the games he had played when he was young without reading the terms and conditions. He also realized that ARGUS has been planning for this to happen if they have the foresight to come up with such terms and conditions that cover their ass from being sued and building this new facility to house the victims.

After hearing the explanations from the staff, Midori had an idea. The most popular way for an online game to make money is to sell cash item which are very helpful to the players. So, she asks the staff "Where can I see the list of cash item for the game? Online games usually make money through cash items right? I want to buy some of these cash items for them".

Hearing this, Kushina perked up from her husband shoulder where she was leaning her head just moments before. She too wants to help her baby anyway she could. No, that's not it. She wants to keep him alive anyway she could. She will buy the best equipment money can buy for her son.

However, their hope is dash when the staff said that there is no such thing as cash shop in this game. The staff even told them that the game had an alternative revenue stream though he didn't explain it further.

Feeling curious, Hiruzen ask the staff how many copies of the games were sold and how many players has log into the game as of now. Seeing the information he seek is quite general, the staff answered "There is only 10000 copies of the game being released. As each game comes with its own unique serial number, the game can't be shared. All the copies of the game have been sold out by the first hour of its release. As of now there are a total of 8343 players that are logged on. 13 of them had died. All of the death that occurs is due to the forced removal from the gear. So, it is safe to say that there is still no casualty from people dying in the game yet".

After a few more questions and answers with the staff, the said staff excuses himself from the room. They all sat in the room doing small talk with each other. It wasn't until some nurse came in and told them that visiting hour has ended and they may come back the next day that they realize it was already 10.30pm.

Noticing the worried look on Kushina and Midori, Minato assure them by saying "Don't worry too much about them Kushina, Midori. The boys are smart and can take care of themselves. They are pretty strong you know. You heard the staff said that this game uses weapons right? In an MMORPG, sword is a very common weapon. With them being trained in Kendo, they shouldn't have a problem defending themselves. Individually they are strong, together they are unstoppable. Have more faith in them."

Hearing that from Minato, Kushina felt a little relieved "You are right Mina-kun. They still have each other in that world. I will believe in them." She then walked to Naruto's bedside. "Naru-chan. This is kaa-chan. I'll be going back tonight but I will come back tomorrow-ttebane. Sweetie, please be safe all right. Know that kaa-chan loves you very much" said Kushina before kissing Naruto's nose.

Meanwhile, Midori and Suguha are at Kazuto's bedside to bid their goodbyes as well. "Kazu-kun, we will be leaving for today. We will come and visit tomorrow. Please keep safe. You are a smart boy. Don't do anything reckless and know that we all love you" said Midori. "Kazu-nii. Fighto! With both you and Naru-nii together both of you can overcome any obstacle. So I want you to clear the game and tell me everything you have experience all right? This is a promise" said Suguha with some tears in her eyes.

They are about to leave the room before both Kushina and Midori take one look into the room setting their eyes on their respective son. "We believe in you" both of the mothers said before closing the door to their room.

* * *

A/N: This is a chapter on how the incident affect their family. I want the story to not only focus on their journey but how their family members is affected by this incident.

I have realize that years of engineering study have cause my English to deteriorate. Not to say I sucked at them, but it could be better. When I proof read my work, there is so many mistakes that I want to shoot myself for making them. I'll probably need to go back to the previous chapters to fix some of the mistakes. While I did read while I write them, sometimes mistakes tends to happen. If someone is disturb with my horrible grammar, I'm sorry about that.

Also there won't be any update for the next two weeks. I will be away during that time but Chapter 4 is already halfway done. So, it won't be too long when the next update will come.

Till the next update, Zephryc


	4. Chapter 4: First Assembly

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Naruto and Ragnarok Online. I only borrowed the concept and characters from Sword Art Online, the characters from Naruto and the world of Ragnarok Online.**

* * *

CHAPTER 4

Kirito was sleeping when his alarm went off. An alarm by the name of Naruto.

From the other side of his door, he can clearly hear Naruto banging on his door and shouting "Kirito wake up. Wake up".

"SHUT UP!" yelled Kirito covering his ear with his pillow.

The banging stop for a moment, before Naruto start banging on the door even more vigorously. "Wake up man… We are wasting time here. C'mon let's go" said Naruto impatiently.

It wasn't long before Kirito can't stand the banging and reluctantly rise from his bed and open his bedroom door. "Naruto! It's only 7 in the morning" complained Kirito.

"Hehe… So, now that we have waked up, we might as well do some grinding" said Naruto sheepishly.

For the past 3 days since they were trapped in this death game, all they have been doing is training. On the second day, they challenge the mob called Thugs. As expected no one else is confident enough to challenge this particular mob. They had been fighting these Thugs by themselves and without any interference from other players. As a result, they are at a much higher level compared to the other players. With better drops compared to the other monsters nearby, they have more zeny compared to the other player as well. All in all, with their experience as beta testers and skills of an experienced swordsman, they are thriving in this new world.

When they reach the dining table at The Barn, they were greeted by the family of NPC. The AI of the NPC in this world is incredibly smart. These NPC have a wide range of dialogues pre-programmed into them. As a matter of fact, they can hold common day to day conversation with no problem at all. However, they still have limitation on what they can do as they were programmed with certain boundaries.

In this virtual world, one can survive without eating or drinking as long as their body in the real world is being taken care of. However, hunger still exists in this world. While one wouldn't die of hunger in this world, the feeling of hunger is hard to ignore. So, it is lucky that their stay at The Barn includes a breakfast meal. However their breakfast is the same everyday, two sausages and some scrambled eggs.

While both of them are eating their meal, Kirito received a private message (PM) from Argo. Argo is one of Kirito's acquaintance whom he met during the beta phase. When the games turned into a death game, Argo decided to be an information broker. In a matter of hours, she managed set up a decent information network. Given enough time, chances are she will be able to find the information you want.

While Kirito is reading the PM from Argo quietly, Naruto picked up the newpaper, Midgard Daily and start reading it. Midgard Daily is a newspaper generated by the game. Every action of each player taken are recorded in the game log. When the day ends, the news system will pick the most important information and compiled them into a newspaper where it will be shared with the rest of the players of what happened yesterday.

From what they read from the previous Midgard Daily, they learned that instead of the supposed 10000 players to have logged on, only 8343 players were logged in. So there is another 1657 of unused copies of the game out there. Other than yesterday's events that happens in-game, the newspaper also tells them about what is happening in the real world as their news system is synchronized with one of the country's online news channel. From there, they learnt that the government won't be doing much to help their situation. They also learnt that this incident had already garnered worldwide attention with hackers from around the world on the first day. They take this incident as a challenge and try to hack the server to free the players. The company, ARGUS is unfazed by the declaration from these hackers. In fact, they didn't do anything about the challenge only giving a word of that, if there is a small mistake, they will kill all the players and the 8330 players' blood will be on them. With that statement, there is a worldwide frenzy pledging the hackers to stop their effort through the web as they don't want to take the chances.

After scanning through the paper, he put the paper on the table and continues with his breakfast until Kirito ask him "So, what's new today?"

"Casualty rate keeps rising. Yesterday there are about 30 deaths which bring the total death in this game to about a hundred plus. The good thing is that the suicide has stopped" answered Naruto.

"Well, with yesterday's news saying that there is about 60 over deaths and the news from the other side confirming the death, it's pretty stupid if they keep killing themselves in hope of waking up cause that ain't gonna happen" Kirito giving his opinion.

"By the way, Argo sent me a PM. She says there is a meeting at Prontera to discuss about the Izlude Raid event. The meeting will start at noon in the Kafra Office Conference Room" informed Kirito.

"Finally someone step up to take charge huh? All right, let's go. After all, a raid is pretty fun" said Naruto.

Kirito thought for a while before he said "I am not sure I wanted to take part in this raid event".

Naruto raised his eyebrow. Knowing Kirito, this is exactly the kind of thing he wouldn't pass up on and here he is saying he doesn't want to take part.

Seeing the confused look on Naruto, he says "I'm just saying I'm not sure about taking part. It is still uncertain. I'll decide during the meeting later. I wanted to go to Kafra Office to update my map anyway. Let's see what they have to say".

"Well, what are we waiting for; let's go kick some Thugs ass. It will take an hour and a half to walk from there to Prontera. So we only have about 3 hours to train" said Naruto wolfing down his scramble egg before heading out to train with Kirito.

* * *

_**4 hours later**_

Kirito and Naruto can be seen walking towards the Kafra Office. Both of them wore similar equipment as the equipment that they are wearing are among the best equipment money can buy at the moment. Kirito's avatar is wearing a zipped black jacket with some wool at the edge of the neck with a matching jean like pants. Naruto is wearing the samething as Kirito's only difference is the dark orange colour. On Kirito's back are two swords hanging in a X-position while Naruto's sword is positioned at his left waist. It is Kirito's preference to wield two swords as he is more well verse in using the Nitoryu (Two Sword Style) in his Kendo match while Naruto preferred the traditional one sword style.

The game system allows dual wielding. However, one must have some actual skills to properly dual wield. Many other players tried to dual wield during the beta test but they end up hurting themselves more often than not and in this game, one can feel the pain if hurt although the pain is reduced as compared to the actual pain if they receive the same injury.

They are walking on the streets towards their destination when they noticed that there is a commotion not far from them. So, they decided to see what is going on. There is a man begging at the streets claiming that he had been scammed and asked if someone would spare him some zeny. The people just looked at him and did nothing as they too have trouble feeding themselves. In fact, there is a lot of players that are living on the Prontera streets for the past few days. All the inn in the city are full and they have to look for NPC that allows them to sleep at their house of find some public place where they are allowed access after night like the church or the bar which is open 24 hours. What's worse is that majority of these homeless players dare not venture out from the safety of the city. Seeing the condition of these players and their low morale, both Kirito and Naruto decided they will do the best of their ability to provide these players with some place to stay.

Out from the crowd, a massive and bulky bald man with a brown goatee and brown eyes of African heritage is seen approaching the man. He looks very intimidating and both of them thought that he is going to bully the poor man. However, the bald man just give him some zeny and some weapon and told him to be careful in the future next time before getting up and left.

While impressed with the man's kindness as not many will help each other in their situation both Kirito and Naruto knew they had to get to their destination as it is nearing noon.

When they reach the Kafra Office, they notice that some of the players are there looking around, unsure where to go. The bulky bald man is one of them. Both Kirito and Naruto approach him. Naruto said "Hi there. Looking for the Conference Room?"

The bald man replied "Ahh… Yes. I thought the organizer of this meeting will have somebody to show us to the room".

Realizing he hasn't introduced himself, Naruto identify himself "Opps… Forgot to introduce myself. My name is Naruto, and this guy here is Kirito".

The bald man looking at them smiled and says "Hi. My name is Agil" and proceed to shake their hands.

Kirito then said "You know, Agil-san what you did in the streets earlier is very noble. Not many people will lend a helping hand when they are having difficulties as well".

Agil just smiled and thanked him for his kind words before asking them "Are you here for the meeting as well?"

Naruto replied "Oh… Right, we are here for the meeting too. I think the Conference Room is this way" while leading them to the room.

While they are walking, Agil ask "You know, I have never seen any of you two in the fields. There are a few recommended fields which give good experience and I have tried each of them the past 2 days. I have met plenty of players while leveling up there but I have never seen neither of you two there before."

"Err… We probably hunt in a different spot? After all, there is not only one spot to grind right?" said Naruto.

When they enter the room, the room is quite packed with players. The room is like an auditorium where the seats are arranged with 4 islands, with each island having 6 rows. At the front of the room is a podium where the speaker can address the whole room. Seeing most of the few front rows has been taken, Kirito, Naruto and Agil moved to the nearest island to the door and take the fifth row. Kirito and Naruto noticed that some of the players present are players they have met during the beta test.

About 10 minutes later, a blue haired man walked up to the podium and the whole room grew silent. He opened his speech by introducing himself as Diabel. He then continued "I don't want to beat around the bush, so to get to the point, the reason for this meeting is to find players to participate in an event call Raids. In this world, every city and town has been invaded by bandits except the starting city, Prontera. To open up these areas, we have to participate in Raids to free the city or town. The nearest Raid is the Izlude Raid. However, know that Raids is an event where we will have to fight against human class mobs. They are known to have a more complex algorithm compared to normal monster. They are a more intelligent AI when compared to the other class of mobs. When they are losing they are known to retreat and regroup. So, all in all participating in a Raid is quite dangerous and needs some proper planning and strategizing. Now the purpose of this meeting is to gather the players that will be involving with the Izlude Raid. So before volunteering yourself for the Raid, anyone have any question?"

"What are the benefits of participating in a Raid event?" asked one of the players in the front row.

"When you participate in a Raid and come out victorious, you will be considered that city's hero. As a city hero, you will have access to a special quest that will reward you an item that only that special quest gave. At the city's Heroes Monument, your name will be carved on it to be remembered as one of the heroes that free the city. As you have noticed in your status, there is a detail called Rank. Rank determines the rank of quest you can take. There are even some techniques one can learn only when they achieve a certain Rank. Rank D is the lowest rank. By participating in a Raid, one can increase their Rank to C" answered Diabel.

Everyone started to murmur excitedly with each other. The perks of joining a Raid are very good. What Diabel had said is that when one participates in a Raid, one will have a chance to obtain a rare item, gain promotion and eternal glory. Who wouldn't like that?

Naruto getting a little pissed cause all Diabel list is the rewards from the Raid. Naruto then stand up from his place and said "Rare items, promotion and glory. That's all? What about the opening of a new town also helps to open up new places for people to stay? I'm sure you all have noticed the homeless players have to sleep outside during the night".

"And then there's that too" replied Diabel. "So, does anyone still have any question?"

Naruto is a little angry at the way Diabel response to his question. Before he can give a retort, someone in the room said "Yea I have one. Though it is not a question, rather it is something that would require some explanation from a certain group of players".

Looking around for the speaker, Diabel then notice a man with a cactus like hair style walked to the front of the room.

"Umm… Alright… Err… I'm sorry; I didn't catch your name. Maybe you should introduce yourself first?" said Diabel.

"I am Kibaou" the man introduced himself. He continued "There is a group of people here that should apologize to us isn't it?"

This gets a confused look from the majority of the players in the room.

"Huh? Apologize? Who? And to whom should they apologize to?" enquire Diabel.

"I'm talking about the beta testers. Ever since this shitty game starts, this group of people has left the new players to fend for themselves. These scumbags have been hogging the best training spot, monopolizing the best quest. This makes the strong players becoming stronger and richer while keeping the weak players weak and poor. So, I want these beta players to kneel down and share their resources with the rest of us or else we, the non-betas won't be participating in this Raid" Kibaou said to the rest of the players.

Naruto after hearing what Kibaou said had his temper flared. Kirito meanwhile just sit on his spot and contemplate on the relationship between the non-beta and beta players.

"What the fuck! The hell you are putting all the blame on the betas you cactus head. Do you think none of the beta testers is among the casualties the past two days?" said Naruto standing up from his seat angry from Kibaou's accusation.

"So, you are defending the betas huh? That must mean you must be one as well. Come here and apologizes to every one of the non beta. It is selfish people like you that people have died. Come here and apologize and beg for our forgiveness like you depend on it. Then share your resources with us like you should have then we might consider you to be included into the Raid" Kibaou said smugly.

Naruto is fuming right now. He was about to give a retort when he felt Kirito's hand on his shoulder and turn his head to look at him. The look on Kirito is enough to keep Naruto's retort to himself. It is not often to see Kirito with such a look since Kirito is pretty laid back in person. It was a look that says "I'll deal with him".

"Pfft… Beg for forgiveness? Share our resources you say? Hahahahaha…" Kirito laughed like a mad man. Everyone in the room is silent watching how the situation will unfold. "That must be the funniest thing I have heard ever since this game started. Listen and listen well, first and foremost, you don't demand something from more experienced players. In fact, I think you should be the one begging us instead of the other way around. Betas begging for a place in the Raid? That's so ridiculously funny I forgot to laugh. Try the Izlude Raid without any betas to guide you. I dare you. No. I double dare you" challenged Kirito.

Kibaou is flabbergasted with what Kirito said. He is not the only one though. Everyone in the room is silent; paying close attention to Kirito's every word.

"Secondly, while you guys are killing cute mobs like Porings and Lunatics, the betas are trying their best to explore this world, facing monster that you can't even begin to imagine so that we can be free from this world as soon as possible. The so called best training spot you say the betas is hogging, they are actually doing you a favour so that you don't get killed. The hotspots of training I heard is just a child play from where we train. You want access to beta players training spot? Fine I'll tell you the spot we train. But don't say the beta tester didn't warn you if you try to hunt there. If the beta is as selfish as they said, they would have already band together to clear the Raid to get the benefits for themselves instead of sharing this with you" continued Kirito while getting appreciative glances from the beta players as they realize Kirito is actually taking the heat for them.

Kibaou is seething. He thought that with the animosity from the non-beta towards the beta players, he can capitalize and make some profit from the resource they will get while at the same time gain fame as a player. It wasn't in his plan to be ridiculed by a kid no less. It's like he is being an ass instead of the hero that fight justice for the non-beta.

"Yes I agree while the betas didn't do much to help. But I want to ask you this question. All this while you have been spouting about fair and justice in this game, about how the beta leave the non-beta behind, did you spare any of your resources to help others? You are obviously strong since I'm sure the organizer won't invite any small fry for the first Raid in the game. As far as I can see there are still plenty of players that need help. Did you help any of them? If you didn't then I have no reason to apologize to you. Well, in any case, with my outburst, I don't think I'm welcome here any longer. So, I'll take my leave. Are you coming, Naruto?" said Kirito before walking toward the door.

Naruto who was enjoying the whole thing watches everyone while smirking throughout the whole lecture from Kirito. Hearing his name being called out by Kirito, Naruto replied "Yeah. I'm coming". "Good luck with the Raid" wishing them luck in the upcoming Raid.

Diabel recognizing the name Naruto since he too is one of the beta testers open his eye wide. He knows that Naruto's reputation is almost legendary during the beta phase. He even went on a Raid with Naruto during the beta and boy was he gob smacked by the efficiency of Naruto's fight. Along with another player known as Kirito, the both of them can considered themselves to single handedly won one of the Raids during the beta phase as the other player that involves was gob smacked with the skills they show.

Diabel then move towards them and say "Err… Hey there Naruto. I can't recognize you after the whole changing into our real appearance stunt. I'm Diabel, remember me? We fought in one of the Raid together".

"Oh! Hi Diabel. Yea can't recognize you either" said Naruto.

"So, your friend is…" Diabel asked Naruto as he can't recognize any other beta testers after they have change to their real appearance.

"Oh, this is Kirito. Since you remember me from the beta, then I'm sure you know who is Kirito as well" introducing Kirito to Diabel.

Hearing that, the beta players in the room murmur excitedly as the two players in front of them is the two legendary players from since the beta phase.

"So, will you be participating in the Izlude Raid? With the both of you there, the chances of success will be greater you know" said Diabel.

Kirito look over the room and give a quick glance at all the players in the room. "Well, I think I will skip this Raid. You have more than enough of capable people in this room." Then while looking at Kibaou he continued is a mocking tone "Furthermore I don't want to hog the good stuff for myself. From what I heard, if we participate, a lot of player won't participate in the Raid".

With a sigh, Diabel said "Well, Kirito if you say so. What about you Naruto?"

Though disappointed with Kirito's decision, he too declines the invitation for the Raid event. His reply to Diabel "If Kirito's not participating, then I'm out too".

After exchanging their goodbyes, both Kirito and Naruto left the room and went to the Kafra NPC behind the counter. "Welcome to Kafra Services. How may we help you?" asked the Kafra NPC while a dialogue box with several options appears in front of them. Navigating the options, Kirito sold his map data to the Kafra and buy the current map data which is compiled by the map system from the collective map data contributed by other players. From the new map, both of them realize that map is slightly bigger now. There is some exploration beyond the 4 gates of the city. They noticed that their explored area is further than any other explored areas.

The process of selling the map data to updating the map is quite ingenious. While the system can instantly update the master map, Kayaba programmed the system to allow a little realism into the game. A player that wants to sell their map data to the Kafra have to go to the nearest Kafra office before 8pm as Kafra office closes at that time. After the Kafra office closes, the system will process the data and update it in the master map. When the Kafra office is open the next morning, the players can update their map from Kafra at a fee. With this method, as long as the master map is not updated, a different player that explores the same area can sell their map data as well.

After selling their map data and updating their own map, they left the Kafra Office and made their way back to The Barn or their training spot.

"Ne ne Kirito, why did you decide not to participate in the Raid this time?" said Naruto a little disappointed as Raid events is one of his favourite event in this game. "I'm sure that cactus head is not really going to pull out from the Raid even if we join. Even if he did manage to convince the other to not join, it's not like we can't handle the Izlude Raid by ourselves. In fact, we can just go and Raid the town now. It's not like they will know until tomorrow's news'.

"Well, we can do that but that will just only paint a bigger bull's eye on our back. What I have said back in the room might come off as a little arrogant. I'm sure most of the new players will be a little pissed with what I had to say. Doing this will just give them more ammo saying we hog all the special quest, promotion and glory to ourselves" explained Kirito.

"I'm sure you remember that I'm uncertain about participating in the Izlude Raid this morning" ask Kirito while Naruto nodded. "Well the reason for it is because I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of players that want to join in this first Raid event and a Raid event have limited number of participants. The reason I don't want to participate this time is because Izlude Raid is supposed to be some sort of tutorial event for future Raid events. The level of danger in Izlude Raid is lower compared to other cities Raid. So I figure it is better to have new players to challenge the Izlude Raid rather than beta testers. From what I see in the room just now, they have quite a number of beta players and some of the new players seems to be quite good as well. So, Izlude Raid shouldn't be too much of a problem even if we are not there".

"I see… But I really pumped about participating in a Raid event man..." whine Naruto.

"Well, there is another reason as to why I decline Izlude Raid" said Kirito.

Naruto turned to look at Kirito hoping him to tell him the other reason but he receive no response from Kirito other than walking on his own pace.

Kirito purposely don't want to tell Naruto the reason because he knows this will annoy Naruto.

Not half a minute later, Naruto is annoyed that he receives no futher explanation keep bugging Kirito "What is it? What the reason? C'mon! Tell me. Tell me."

Kirito then turned his head to face Kirito, with a serious look on his face. Naruto actually felt a little nervous. Kirito then answered "The other reason I decline the Izlude Raid is to prepare for…"

Kirito now knows he has Naruto's full attention as Naruto the look Naruto gave him turned from nervous to an anticipated look.

"… The Payon Raid"

* * *

A/N: Ah.. Finally back home.. Man travelling in Germany was awesome.. Oktoberfest is super crazy.. Now why Malaysia don't have such an event? Well, in any case, while backpacking in Germany, I have come across something that I can implement in the game.. Nothing much, just a feature to make the game more realistic.

Hmm.. When i started this story I just thought that I wanted to get this idea of mine out of my brain and share it here. I never thought whether this story goona be good or not. However, I can't deny that positive reviews gives me more motivation.

By the way, I think it should be time to address some of the reviews.

First of all, it's about the OOC. Well, while i agree their history and their social standing is different, their character isn't too far from what they are in canon or so I believe. The reason they are popular in a social setting is all because Naruto now had parents growing up and Kirito have Naruto as his best friend, this little thing changes how one view their world. Do you honestly believe Naruto will still be village pariah if his parents is still alive?

As for beat-tamer, sorry bro. That's not how Naruto gonna get his Kyuubi power but yeah he will have them. You'll just have to wait to see how he get them. The story is already planned. Doujutsu will exist but it will be different from the context of "Naruto". The powers will be tailored-fit to be more game-like.

Sorry, no harem. Not that I don't like them. Just that I already have some plans in mind.

In any case, thanks for the review. I respect your decision when my fiction is not your cup of tea and there is no hard feelings. ;)

Now that I'm back, there won't be such a long wait till the next update.

Till my next update, Zephryc


	5. Chapter 5: The First Raid

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Naruto and Ragnarok Online. I only borrowed the concept and characters from Sword Art Online, the characters from Naruto and the world of Ragnarok Online.**

In this chapter I introduce more characters that you readers can recognized into my stories. I dislike using OC as I don't think I'm good enough to describe the physical appearance of the OC for the readers to appreciate. For any future reference, if there is any OC I used, they are probably not important and doesn't have any major part in the story. At the moment, most of the characters will be from Naruto and SAO. However, there will be iconic characters coming in but that will be MUCH later in the story.

* * *

**CHAPTER 5**

It has been a week since the whole fiasco with the Nerve Gear started. In one of the many room in ARGUS Dive Facility, the family members of Kirigaya Kazuto and Namikaze Naruto gathered together are talking among themselves while keeping the unconscious boys company. Ever since they are admitted into the facility, their families have been visiting them everyday after work.

Kushina meanwhile is sitting on Naruto's bedside holding his hand staring at her son face. The expression on her face is one of worry and sadness. Well, no one can blame her. If your only son is trapped in a death game, you tend to have that kind of look on your face too. On the other side of Naruto's bed is a blonde haired woman with shoulder-length bangs framing both sides of her face and tie her hair into two loose ponytails with a well endowed chest size. Beside that woman is a tall man with waist-length, spiky white hair usually tied back into a pony tail, with two shoulder-length bangs that framed both sides of his face. Both of them are Naruto's grandparents from his father side. The woman's name is Tsunade and her husband's name is Jiraiya.

Even though Tsunade is in her late fifties, she still looks like she is in her early thirties. How the hell can she look so young? The answer? Ahh… The wonder of modern medicine... and money. When your husband is a world renowned author and you are one of the best diagnostician in the world you tend to make a lot of money. With the medical advancement today, one can easily buy youth if you have the money for it and money is what they have. While Jiraiya will sometimes joke about the money his wife spent on cosmetics, internally he couldn't be happier. When you are married to a wife that looks like 31 when she is actually 58 and have natural gigantic cans, who wouldn't be happy?

The Kirigayas is at Kazuto's side of the room. Like Kushina, Midori also have a concerned look on her face. Suguha is sitting on the side of Kazuto's bed watching the television after talking with Kazuto although it was just her doing the talking. She read somewhere that even if a person is unconscious, they are still aware of what is happening around them. Unfortunately, there isn't a book that says diving and coma is two different things. While in a coma one might be able to feel their surrounding but unable to respond to them, in a dive, the person's whole consciousness is immerse in a digital environment. Any stimuli from the outside world will be intercepted. It is the equivalent of your consciousness is living in a different world where the consciousness has its own physical body and separated from your physical body in the real world. Well, not that Suguha needs to know about that as it was the thought that counts.

Hiruzen and Minetaka were sitting on the couch in the room with Minato and are having a conversation with each other. Their topic of conversation of course focus on the incident both of their kids is involved in. They have discussed among themselves what are the legal actions they can take against the company that are responsible for this sick twisted game. Also, they have even discuss how to safely remove the Nerve Gear from their kids however, without the knowledge of how the Nerve Gear is built, talk is all they can do as they don't have to confidence to remove the Nerve Gear without harming their children. Then of course there is that hottest topic that comes yesterday for it was yesterday that the first video was broadcasted to the main page of ARGUS Ragnarok website.

In that video, they are given their first glimpse to the world of Ragnarok. From what they can understand from the clip, the players had triggered an event which was recorded by the system. The video is then uploaded to the website where the netizen can stream the event in real time. Since, every television in the facility is synchronized with the game, when any event is going to happen, the televisions in the facility will immediately broadcast the said event regardless of channel the visitors are watching at that moment.

* * *

**_Flashback begins_**

It was about 2 in the afternoon on a Sunday when the Namikazes and Kirigayas were visiting Naruto and Kazuto when the channel that they are watching has a sudden interruption for a special broadcast. Unlike the usual special announcement from the government where the news reporter will report on special news, this time there is an anime-like character that introduced herself as the reporter for a special event that is taking place in the game. "Hello everyone. I'm Ai-chan, your special reporter from Midgard that will be reporting on an event that is about to take place. Before the event starts, let Ai-chan bring you viewers up to date. In this world called Midgard, all the towns and cities has been occupied by a tyrant and his lackeys with the exception of the Central City, Prontera. It is the player's objective to explore the world of Midgard and free these cities and towns from their threat. To free the town or city their tyrant, players will have to participate in an event called Raid Events. The up-coming event is the first Raid event of the game. Everyone, please enjoy the show." said the anime character, Ai-chan cheerfully.

The screen then switch to a different scene and show a group of people dressed in various light armor and clothes carrying various type of weapon. Some are carrying axes, some have daggers, some spears but majority of them can be seen carrying a sword. Although every cluster together to show that they are in a group the viewers can clearly notice that the group of people is further divided into 8 smaller groups as there is some distance between the smaller groups. Although split into a smaller group, they were seemed being led by someone with blue hair wearing a bronze set of armor with blue clothing underneath the armor. He had a shield on his left hand while his right hand is holding a sword. "All right, I want Team 2 to cover Team 1 back. The same thing with Team 3 and Team 4, Team 5 with Team 6 and Team 7 with Team 8. Always have your back covered by an ally as we don't want any surprise attack from the back. Tankers take the front row. Damage dealers stay behind. Attack only when you see an opening. Then rinse and repeat" the blue haired man shouted the orders.

All the people then shouted "Hai".

Then the blue haired man shouted "Then let's free Izlude" while raising his sword and his shield placed in front of him.

Everyone else roared and charged into the town.

Inside the town, there are several people wearing the same clothes. They even have the same facial design as they look similar to one another. Despite how close they resemble to a human, it didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that they are the objective or rather the target for this event. Noticing the groups of players were charging in, these CG bandits took out their weapon and start charging at the incoming player as well. While these bandits have similar design, they don't all use the same weapons. Some can be seen brandishing a sword, some spears, axes and some even clubs.

The two groups meet halfway with the bandits slashing their sword against a line of shield bearers. The sound of steel clashing with steel could be heard. The bandits are wildly swinging their weapons around. As an experience Kendo veteran, Hiruzen can notice some of the flaw with the bandit's stances which can be exploited. However the same could be said of the player group. What they are watching is like a free for all street brawl. The only difference is that it is a street brawl with weapons.

The two sides are trading strikes and thrusts, both side taking damage. However with fewer bandits, the player's side is dealing more damage than the bandits. It wasn't long before one of the bandits shatter into pieces of polygons. Noticing the first death of the bandit, the other bandits start to retreat while the players chased them. However, this is the intention of the bandits. As they keep chasing them deeper into the town, 2 groups of bandits flank the player group in a three-pronged attack. Now the player group is surrounded by 3 groups of bandits. Although the players still outnumbered the bandits even with the reinforcement, they are still in a disadvantageous position.

"Shit! Diabel, there are reinforcement coming from the rear of the group. We can probably outlast them with our superior numbers but we will take quite a hit" said one of the players taking the rear.

The blue haired leader named Diabel responded "Don't worry, stick to the plan. Team 7 and Team 8 take the group coming from the right and Team 3 and Team 4 take the group coming from the rear. Stick to the strategy and we can win without any casualty. Those that have taken damage replenish your HP before joining the fight" yelled Diabel.

The fight rages on. Some players can be seen retreating into the center of the group to replenish their HP. Those that retreat will have a backup to back the position so that the bandits can't break into their center. Slowly but surely, the bandits is losing. Before long, the initial group of bandits which lured the player group is left with one bandit. It is then that the bandit starts fleeing.

The person fighting the said bandit starts chasing his prey seeing as he is a few hits away from killing the bandit.

"Kibaou. STOP! Don't pursue them" yelled Diabel.

However, Kibaou didn't heed his word. He just replied "No worries, I'm getting a hang of this. This won't be a problem at all" and chased after the fleeing AI.

"Damn it" cursed Diabel. Then he looked to his back and see Team 2 still covering their back. Seeing that they are engaging 3 opponents and there is no opponent in front of them he decides to go after Kibaou lest he get himself killed. "Zabuza-san, can you and your team handle the fight here? Kibaou has gone off breaking ranks. I want to get him before he got himself killed".

The man called Zabuza just grunted and nodded his head while fighting his opponent signifying he is perfectly capable of handling their opponents. He never liked that Kibaou fellow. From the stunt he pulled at the meeting, he knows that sincere apology is not what he wanted from the beta testers. It is the items and zeny that he can get by intimidating the beta testers. Although he is not a beta tester, he never really had animosity towards the beta testers. If you explore the Prontera City carefully, you can find a huge building called the Prontera Hunting Academy located at the south west of the city. In the academy one can learn the basics of hunting and fighting in the world of Ragnarok for free. All it took is a few hours of your time and you will be ready to explore Midgard.

"Thanks. All right, Team 1 let's go" ordered Diabel to his party members before scooting off to where Kibaou's at.

"Haku, Gozu, Meizu. When I give the signal push all three of them into my line of attack. I'll use a technique on them" said Zabuza to his team members.

Nodding, each of them is trying to push their opponent to where Zabuza is going to perform his technique. Before long Haku, Gozu and Meizu manage to force the opponent to the intended location. Zabuza then ran towards them and called out [Horizontal]. His sword glowed and a horizontal slash is seen cutting through the bandits along with the after image of the glowing sword. All three bandits then break into pieces of polygons fragments and disappear.

However, before they can even catch a breath, more bandits came as reinforcement. "Shit, how many of them are there?" cursed Zabuza.

Glancing at his team, he commanded "Gozu, Meizu. Both of you aid the teams that is fighting there" pointing at the group of players holding back about 6 bandits. "Haku, you and me are going to help that side" gesturing to the other group of players holding back no less than a dozen bandits. Before they all left to help the others, Zabuza said in a weary tone "Don't die all right".

* * *

_**With Kibaou**_

"That's as far as you go, you bastard" said Kibaou plunging his sword through the bandit before the bandit shattered into millions of polygons.

Moments later Diabel and his team came running towards him. "What the hell are you thinking breaking off ranks like that? Your stunt could have killed you or worse the team" said Diabel a little furious at his party member's attitude.

"Chill, bro. In the end, it all works out right?" said Kibaou petting his leader's shoulder.

Then a few groups of bandits appear from the shadow of a nearby alley.

Instinctively, all four of them suddenly had their back against each other standing in a formation that has their members guarding their back. Each of them is in a ready position with their weapons in ready. Diabel assessing their situation know they are in a deep trouble. All the exits have been blocked. What's worse is that there is a bandit whose design is different from the rest. The bandit is taller, bigger and looks very imposing. That is the [Izlude Bandit Leader].

At that moment, there is just one thing in Diabel's mind "We're fucked".

* * *

_**With the rest of the raiding party**_

[Horizontal], [Pierce], [Bash] and various shouts of technique names can be heard from the raiding party group. Multiple colour of glowing weapon can be seen and soaring in the air leaving behind the after image of the glowing weapon. Other than shouts of the technique's name, there is another sound that filled the air. It is the sound of a shattering polygon. Strike after strike, the players rain their techniques on them and one by one the bandits fall. It wasn't long before all the bandits have been defeated.

The group took a rest as they didn't notice anymore reinforcement coming. Zabuza sits on the floor, too exhausted to expend more energy to find a place to sit when someone approaches him. That person has shoulder-length, light-coloured hair. He asked Zabuza "Where is Diabel and his team? I thought it is your team that is supporting their's?"

Looking at the person asking him is one of the 8 party leaders that lead each party in this raid event. "Ah… Mangetsu. He left to go after Kibaou. But it has been a while since then" worried start creeping into Zabuza.

Mangetsu replied "Should we go after them?"

"Yea, I think we should. But we need to restore our HP before going after them. Is there any casualty?" asked Zabuza.

"None from my team" said Mangetsu looking around. "Hey team leaders gather here for a moment please" shouted Mangetsu.

Five people approach the two of them. A tall and bulky man with long orange hair, a woman with long red hair, a man with black hair and long beard, a very tall and thin man with long, shaggy, straw-coloured blond hair and finally a slightly shorter man who has his hair tied in a top knot and has a short beard.

"So, Fuguki, Ameyuri, Jinpachi, Kushimaru and Jinin. Did you have any casualty from your group?" asked Zabuza wanting to assess their remaining fighting power.

All of them shook their head. "It's too early to say we will complete this raid unscathed though. By the way, I don't see Team 1 anywhere" said a man with a long beard named Jinpachi.

"Yeah… About that… the cactus head idiot goes off on his own and Diabel had to go retrieve him" said Mangetsu helping Zabuza to answer the question.

"Seriously? What is the dumbass even thinking? Heck, why did even Diabel let him join the Raid in the first place. He can't even fight properly if there is no one to tank for him. That asshole only has his eye on the rewards. Did you remember how he tried to intimidate the items off the beta testers at the meeting that day?" said the red haired woman named Ameyuri in disgust remembering Kibaou's action that day.

"Haha… Yea that is a good one. I gotta say, that kid had balls to ask him to shove it in his face" said Mangetsu.

"All right… Enough with this pointless chat. After we have recovered enough, we will be looking for Diabel and his team. Although I don't really like Kibaou, we can't just leave him to die either" said Zabuza. "We will move out in about 5 minutes if everyone is fine with it?" asked Zabuza to the rest of the party leaders.

The other party leaders said that they are fine with that decision and move to their respective parties to tell them to get ready to move in 5 minutes.

* * *

_**Back with Diabel's group**_

"Diable! SAVE ME!" screamed the last of his team members before a spear tip protrudes from his chest and he disappear into fragments of polygons.

It all started going downhill when they were surrounded by the bandit leader and his crew. While they are able to fight at the start, with their diminishing HP, they know they can't take too much damage. Kibaou from a haughty demeanor is now terrified with his current situation. He has less than a quarter of his HP left and with the relentless assault from the bandits, he didn't have enough time to use his restorative item.

When the bandit leader joined the battle and the fight intensify to a whole new level. With the bandit leader big stature, he swung his axe towards them. Knowing they can't block or parry it, they dodge out of the way. That is when all hell breaks lose. With them breaking off their formation they don't have anyone to take care of their rear. They are being assaulted from the back and front.

The bandit leader is currently targeting Kibaou as he is the nearest to him. With a powerful swing, the axe went through Kibaou across his chest and with a widen eye he looked at his party member before he breaks into fragments of polygons.

The other team members seeing what happened had stunned them. Seeing the death of a party member shocked them to say the least. However, the enemy doesn't care about your state of mind. The bandits rushes in against one of the team members and he is being stabbed by not one, not two but by four bandits shoving the tip of their weapon to his chest. With the bandits still standing in front, back, left and right not moving, he too shatter from into pieces of polygons.

Diabel recovered from his stunned state, take this chance to rush in to kill the four bandits using one of his technique [Horizontal Square] a 4 hit combo move which immediately dispatched all four of the bandits. He then turned towards his last remaining member to call for a retreat. However, before he can even utter the word 'retreat', he saw his last party member have a spear ran through him before breaking into polygons.

Knowing his death is imminent, Diabel lowered his his sword, his fighting spirit leaving him.

* * *

_**Back in the real world**_

Suguha who have been watching the battle shouted "No. Don't give up". They are watching the whole scene with worry. To them, they are the brave heroes that will lead the path to free the other players. These players battling in this sick game will be the one that is going to save their son, brother and grandsons. All their hope in getting the boys back to the real world depends on them and Diabel seems like the leader of these group of saviors. He can't die. He has too much influence to sway the tide of the battle.

The mothers are clutching the hand of their sons as they realize the danger they are facing. All this while, they thought that their life is at the mercy of the Nerve Gear. Never realizing the real danger they are facing in the game. This is the first time they are given an inside view into the world that has kidnapped their sons. Seeing the violent battle and the threat of death is so real. They are even more worried than ever. The good thing that comes out of this broadcast is that they didn't saw Kazuto or Naruto involved in this battle.

When the battle is still at its early stage, Minato took the liberty to ask the staff how do they recognize their son given that they probably use nicknames and have different appearance than what they look like. The staff assures them that they will be able to recognize their sons as all the players have their real life appearance in the game. Asking how this can be done, the staff replied that in the Nerve Gear is a microwave device that at low intensity can scan a person's facial structure along with their hairs. Before installing the game, one had to calibrate the Nerve Gear to recognize your face.

Hearing that explanation from the staff they tried to identify their sons among the group of players. They or at least the mother breathed a sigh of relief when they can't find their sons among them. Silently, Hiruzen and Jiraiya is a little disappointed that their boys didn't participate in this event. They have no doubt they will definitely kick-ass. But not like Kushina need to knew about it. She would skin them alive if she knew they are hoping to see the boys in action. The mothers thought that at least their boys are smart enough to not get involved in dangerous event like this and risking their lives in this barbaric game. Oh! If only they knew what their boys are really planning.

When the fight reaches the point where Diabel and his team are being annihilated, they all watch in horror at how they are being killed one by one. Then they watch how Diabel lost his will to fight and everyone thought this is going to be the end of the raid leader.

* * *

_**Back to Diabel**_

Diabel's will to fight left him the moment he saw his last party member shatter into infinite polygons. With both his hand hanging to his side waiting for the final blow to come, his life starts to flash past him. His life flashes until he zoomed in to one of his memory during the beta phase. In this memory, he remembered the he was looking at the back of Naruto and Kirito standing in front of him taking on a boss level monster. That time the whole group had been annihilated by that beast of a monster. However, even with the odds stacked against them; both of them kept on fighting, never giving up. However unlike the fairy tale ending where the hero always win, the same couldn't be said in a real world, or in this case the virtual world. They were killed by the boss but not after a gritting display of courage and valor. They even managed to bring down the boss HP from a little over half till they are dangerously low. They have managed to reduce more than half of the total HP of the boss. Although they have died in the end, the determination those two show him was really inspiring. Not only him, but the other players that joined in the boss fight as well. Fighting to the last of your breath against all odds. That is true heroism.

Jolted back to reality, he realized the bandit leader has already lifted his massive axe ready to swing down towards him. Quickly bringing his right hand over to his left side, his sword glowed before he shouted [Vertical] when his sword travels upwards from his lower left side. His sword met the massive axe midway and with that technique he managed to overpower the axe swing and knock back the bandit leader a few steps.

When his technique had ended he suffered a moment of delay when the bandit closes in on him. When he is able to move again, there are four bandits already in striking distance. Without wasting a time, he uses another technique knowing this is going to be his last move as the incoming bandits will capitalize on his next delay. [Circular Slash] he shouted doing a circular movement on his spot slashing all the bandits while knocking them away. However, since the bandit still have full HP when engaging him, the bandit only have a portion of their HP depleted.

"So, this is the best I can do huh? I'll leave the rest to all of you" said Diabel dejectedly thinking of the other members of the raiding party.

Still in his delay from his technique, the second wave of the bandits that is coming towards him already raises their weapon ready to kill Diabel.

"[Vertical], [Pierce]" he heard someone shouted before he saw two figures rushed in. He found Zabuza with his hand raised and sword glowed which tells him Zabuza is the one that uses Vertical and slashed three of bandits in an upward slash with the bandits flying backwards. The other figure is Kushimaru with his sword glowing stabbed through the other bandit and shatter into polygons.

"Good job lasting so long Diabel. Now you can sit back and replenish you HP. Let us handle the boss here and you will deal with the small fry" said Zabuza with a smirk towards Diabel, while the leaders of each respective party came to deal with the bandit leader.

"I'll… I'll take you up on the offer" said Diabel before standing up. Before walking towards the group of players Diabel with his back facing them said "Everyone, Thank you".

Zabuza and the rest are standing in a line staring at the bandit leader. Mangetsu then said "Let's get the show started" and the all seven of them rushes in to fight the boss of the event.

Each and everyone of them are skillfully evading the boss attack. Those that can't be dodged, they either parries them or counter with their own techniques. Whenever someone uses their technique, the others would cover for them until the delay ended. They use their techniques in successive making the boss unable to attack any of them. The other raid members that are replenishing their HP are in awe seeing these seven players dishing out techniques after techniques and the boss is unable to do anything about it. Of course the other bandits try to join the fight; however it is their job now to prevent these bandits from interrupting the fight.

It wasn't long before the boss is defeated. The moment the boss is defeated, the remaining bandits then scattered away from them. Then there is fireworks being let off which surprised the raiding party. Seeing that they manage to beat the event, all of them cheered after a grueling battle. Then Ai-chan and what seems to be a cameraman appears before them from out of nowhere and congratulates them on beating the game. "Everyone. Congratulations on freeing Izlude. I am Ai-chan and I would like to have an interview with the heroes of Izlude. Can you tell me what you want to say to the people out there? This interview will be share with everyone in tomorrow's Midgard Daily and will be uploaded to ARGUS Ragnarok official website. Please keep in mind the interview is only for 5 minutes for everyone and we will start when you are ready. Please select 'ready' when you are ready and wait till the light turn red on the camera before saying what you want to say".

After they are finished with the interview, Ai-chan then congratulate them once more and say to the viewer there will be more videos in the future before the broadcast ended.

_**Flashback end**_

* * *

_**Back to present in the facility room**_

From all the information Minato had gathered, he figured out how the company is making money from this game. By selling the broadcasting rights to international channel, they are cashing in on the game. From his business contacts, he found out that a lot of people around the world is hooked to these video broadcast. The tension during the battle, the action scenes, and the techniques used during the battle keep the viewers glued to their seat. He realized that ARGUS is not running an online game. Rather, they are turning it into a reality show. And the patients trapped in their Nerve Gear is their participants. The first video had so many viewers around the world, that ARGUS had start charging membership fees to people visiting their website to watch the videos. In fact, the videos uploaded to their website are better than the broadcast as they can view the whole event from any angles they want (think of it like FIFA replay function only with unlimited camera view of the whole event). The broadcasting rights are given to stations that can afford them. All in all, ARGUS is making more money than they could make if Ragnarok VR Online is just a normal VR game.

This of course doesn't sit right with Minato. Making money from the welfare of the players just isn't ethical. However, the people around the world don't have a friend or relative with a death machine stuck to their head. The action and thrill watching the fight from the first video excite them to no ends. The progress of this show is very unpredictable as no one will know what will happen next. Will they be able to succeed in the next event or will they fail resulting in the total annihilation? No one can predict it that and that is why it is so addicting.

It is about 8.30pm when they are still discussing about the nature of the game when the channel some of them are watching suddenly had an interruption. Although this is only the second time, they already knew another event have been triggered. "Hello everyone, Ai-chan is back again. We will have another Raid event that is about to happen. So sit tight and enjoy the show".

* * *

A/N: ... and I stop here. To tease you all a little. Hahaha... In any case, it is pretty cool to bring in the Mist Seven Shinobi Swordsman huh? Also, Jiraiya and Tsunade as grandparents? Where did that come from? I had no idea. But since Jiraiya admit that he sees Minato like a son he never had, I just had to bring these two into the Namikaze family.

So, how do you like it that instead of a normal death game, I turn this into a high stakes reality show. The setting I made for the story can touch a lot of subjects. It is like a whole new world. I can even explore on how the economics in this world. You about stuff about supply and demand. But that would just bore you readers out. I'll stick to the progression of the story.

One of the review said the chapters are kinda short. Yeah. I agree it is not as long as the other works out there. But I think I prefer to keep my chapter short. It is more of a story that you can read when you wanted to fill in a 5-10 minutes break from whatever you are doing.

About Asuna and Hinata, I'm getting there. I have forgot to say earlier in the story. This is probably going to be a slow build-up story. So, don't expect them to show up the next chapter. But they are the heroin. So, they will come out sooner or later. Have some patience. Cheers.

Haha.. About the cliff hangers... I'm not sorry. Think of it as a writer's way to tease his reader. Make you all anticipate the next update. The same could be said of series right? I know I can't wait till next week for some of the show I'm watching. Also, it doesn't hurt to read some reviews on whether I'm doing a good job with this story. And I realize cliff hanger is a good way to fish for them. :p While I wrote this story without having any thought of gaining anything in return, it is still nice to read that the readers appreciate what I wrote.

Before I go any further. I will admit later on in my work, there will be some darker theme to the story. It's nothing sexual. The issue will focus more to the view of the society. So, I wanted your opinion on whether should I increase the rating of this story?

Till my next update, Zephryc.


	6. Chapter 6: Payon Raid

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Naruto and Ragnarok Online. I only borrowed the concept and characters from Sword Art Online, the characters from Naruto and the world of Ragnarok Online.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 6**

"Damn it. Don't be stubborn Naruto. We are doing the Raid at night because the darkness of the night will be able to cover our retreat easier when we are being overwhelmed. Your 'kill-me orange' jacket will destroy the purpose of doing this in the night" nagged Kirito.

"C'mon… Orange is awesome. Exhibit A" said Naruto gesturing at himself.

"I give up. If you are getting swarmed in the Raid later I ain't bailing your ass" said Kirito. "Back to business, this Raid will definitely be a lot harder than the Izlude Raid. I got some information from Argo that there are 3 casualties from 27 people that joined the raid" said Kirito in a serious tone.

Kirito and Naruto are unable to get any information from the Izlude Raid because they have been travelling to their next city, Payon. While the Midgard Daily will report on such an event, they are unable to get their hands on an issue while they are travelling. Payon is about 2 days walking distance from Prontera City. After they have decided to challenge the Payon Raid, they have left The Barn that day and have been travelling towards Payon for two days. Since they are over-leveled, the monsters they met en-route never poses any problem to them.

"Just 3? Man. They are pretty good. I remember our first time, it's a fucking massacre. But I blame it on the CG though. When they die, they look so real, all of us were stunned. I for one thought I really killed a real-life person." said Naruto shiver thinking back to his first "kill".

"Yeah. I didn't took it that well either. But since some of them are beta testers and I think Diabel at least tell the newbies about his experience with his first kill so they are probably prepared from the psychological backlash. Enough about that. Let's focus on our Raid instead. Let go through the plan one more time" said Kirito. "When we get into Payon, find some place to hide from the view of the bandits. Since they are a human class mobs, they rely heavily on their sense of sight. We have exploited this flaw a lot of times during beta, and our time with the Thugs shows that they didn't do anything about this flaw" said Kirito.

Naruto continued "Also, a Raid Event ends only when the boss is defeated. Until the boss is defeated, the small fries will keep on spawning. Even small fries can take us out easy if they with no limit. So, avoid engaging the grunts at all cost. If confrontation can't be avoided, priority is to take out their sight and run away from them".

"Correct. When we confront the boss, don't use technique. The delay will do more harm than good. It's not worth the extra damage if we can't dodge the next attack. When the grunts start coming in, we take their sight out. While they will spawn with no limits, we know that they have an upper limit to the number of grunts they will spawn at a time. By taking their sight we are effectively bringing down their strength without new reinforcement" explained Kirito.

"The blind status caused by weapon to the eye is prefixed to be 30 minutes in the game. We have tried this while sparring together and tested against the Thugs as well. The blind status can only be removed by the use of items. From the beta the grunts never used any items on themselves. Let's just hope they didn't change that in the official release. So, the first thing before confronting the boss, we have to try to blind one of the grunt to see if they will use any items to cure their blindness. If they do, then we have to abort this Raid" said Naruto.

"Since boss mobs are usually immune to status changes, we can assume the boss can't be blinded. So, we go for critical spots for more damage. With our skills, we should be to handle the boss accordingly. The important thing is to be discreet. Save our stamina and HP for the boss fight. Blind as many grunts as we can but don't kill any of them. The boss will not stay at the same place. It is the purpose of the Raid to find the boss and defeat them. So, they should be moving around quite often. We will strike him at the place where there is a limited entrance to bottleneck the grunts from interrupting the fight" summarize Kirito.

"Alright, so that is the general gist of it huh? Well, do you have a place in mind on where is a good spot to bring down the boss?" asked Naruto.

With a smirk, Kirito replied "Do you still need to ask? If it is in Payon, then there is only one place that would fit perfectly to the plan".

"Hehe… So, we just have to clear that area before the boss gets there. As the grunts usually spawn near the boss, when the boss is in that place, all we have to make sure is that all the grunts are out of that place" said Naruto.

"Ok, so one will clear that area from the grunts. Then the new grunts will spawn near the boss to replace the dead. While one of us is clearing the area, another one will be guarding at the bottleneck to prevent them from coming into the area. Which role do you want to do?" asked Kirito.

With a wide grin Naruto looked at Kirito "Kirito you sly dog. You already know what I want. I already know what you want. With your black clothes, you can hide in the shadow easier than me while you are guarding when I'm cleaning up the area".

"Hmph… Alright then, it is decided. Now we wait till nightfall" said Kirito.

* * *

_**In Kazuto's and Naruto's facility room**_

Everyone is staring intently at the television. After the Ai-chan reported that the second Raid Event is happening, everyone in the room is anxious yet excited to watch the second Raid after the first Raid turns out to be so exciting.

Since they didn't participate in the first Raid, both Midori and Kushina thought that their kids is probably smart enough to not get involved in these dangerous situation and didn't really care about the Raids although they have to admit they are rather exciting. Oh… If only they knew what kind of crazy stunt their kids are trying to pull off.

The dark surrounding showed on the screen indicates that the Raid is happening in the night time. From there, they can see two silhouettes walking slowly through the gates. They are wondering where the rest of the raiding party is. Unlike the first raiding party, these two didn't charge straight into the fight. In fact, before they can see the face of the two players, they quickly ran and hide in the shadow.

Seeing that the two figures hide instead of fighting the bandits head on Hiruzen said "They must be the scout for the main party. Infiltrate the city and provide information. This raiding party knew what they are doing".

"Yeah, after what I saw yesterday, they must be real idiots to be trying to do a Raid with just two players" said Tsunade.

The scouts have been sneaking for about 10 minutes already and they have manage to avoid detection for the time being. They have to say they are pretty impressed with the scout's infiltration abilities and their sneakiness. Especially when one of them is wearing an orange jacket in the middle of the night.

While there is no action throughout the event after 10 minutes, they are still feeling nervous. It is like watching a spy show where the viewers are constantly on the edge when the spy is going to get exposed. The same can be said to these scouts. When they are being discovered, all the bandits around their area will be coming after them like bees going after the honey.

20 minutes later, they are in front of a palace like building with only one entrance. The entrance is a long but narrow tunnel-like archway that can only fit at most two persons at a time.

When the coast is clear, the two scouts can be seen dashing toward the palace entrance. The speed the scouts are running is very fast. So fast was their speed that it surprises everyone in the room or anyone watching for the matter. While they have been sneaking around earlier, they move quickly and silently but never in their full speed.

"Holy shit, they are damn fast. So much faster than the fastest player from yesterday's Raid" said Jiraiya.

With what little light from the torches near the palace, they can see the faces of the scouts. It was a face they are very familiar with. It was the face of one Namikaze Naruto and Kirigaya Kazuto.

The whole party in the room was in dead silence watching the screen intently now that they have identified their boys is the one sneaking around in a hostile area.

"Is… Is that Kazu-nii and Naru-nii?" asked Suguha not believing that both her brother figure is raiding the city.

Then all of the family members in the room take a look at the boy's sleeping form on their bed for a lingering moment before bringing their attention back to the screen silently praying nothing will happen to their boys.

Kushina is less than pleased with this revelation though. Hell, she is livid. "WHAT? My boys are the scouts? Where is the main party? If they die doing this, I swear I'm going to get each of the main party's member and unplug the Nerve Gear from them" a fuming Kushina said to no particular person.

"Ho-Honey. Calm down a little. They have infiltrated into the city for quite some time. They don't seem to be going back to the gates. In fact, they seem to be headed towards a certain location without getting found out. I'm… I'm afraid both Naruto and Kazuto are pulling off this raid with just themselves" said Minato a little fearful of his wife and concerned with his son's almost suicidal stunt.

* * *

_**Back with Naruto and Kirito**_

"All right Naruto. We just saw the boss is near the river not too long ago. So, now would be a good time to clear the palace square. When the coast is clear, we will make a mad dash towards the entrance. I will guard the entrance while you kill each and every one of the grunts there. We don't want them to interfere with the boss fight later" Kirito said to Naruto in whispers.

Naruto just give a nod to signify he understand their plan.

Waiting behind the shadow of some bushes for another minute to check the coast is clear, they made a dash towards the palace entrance. Since they timed their sprint when the grunts are not looking, they manage to get to the palace entryway without getting detected.

Hiding inside the shadow in the entryway, Kirito said "Ok. I will stand guard here. Don't get over your head in there all right? Call me when you find some difficulties handling them. Don't do anything stupid".

"Hey, have a little faith in me" said Naruto is a mock pout. "All right, I'm going in" continued Naruto and he took a deep breath before running deeper into the tunnel.

"Good luck, Naruto" said Kirito to himself, and turns his back towards the direction Naruto ran off to and draw out his swords from his back getting ready to fight any mobs that try to get into the palace square.

* * *

_**With Naruto**_

Naruto is running towards the center of the square. From the first glance while he is running, he counted that there is at least 5 bandits in that area. The bandits noticing Naruto start drawing out their weapon and are rushing towards Naruto to engage him.

Naruto too draw out his weapon from his sheath and prepare to fight the enemies. When the first enemy approaches Naruto and takes a swing at him using his club, Naruto back step from the swing narrowly missing him and with great agility immediately lunge forward from his back step and slash at the enemy's eye. Rather than finishing the blind bandit, Naruto immediately prepare to face his second opponent.

The second bandit that engages Naruto uses a curved sword. The bandit came after Naruto raising his sword wanting to slash Naruto from above. However, Naruto deflected the attack with ease using his own sword. Due to Naruto's deflection, the enemy stumbles for a moment. Naruto uses that opportunity to blind the opponent by using the same horizontal swipe at the enemy eyes.

Noticing the third bandit wielding a spear is charging in on him from the back, in the same motion he blinded the second enemy, he spin to his back with his sword now pointing down to deflect the incoming spear. With the momentum the bandit is charging in, he continues running forward. Naruto extends his leg to trip the bandit. The bandit falls down and without wasting any second, Naruto drove his sword into the back of the bandit's neck hard instantly shattering the bandits into polygons.

* * *

_**Back in Naruto's and Kazuto's room in the real world**_

Seeing Naruto display his skill with such precision and speed, Hiruzen is very proud of him. What impresses him is how efficient Naruto is fighting. He did not waste any movement. Every strike hit their mark. Every dodge he did is just enough to get away from the opponent's attack while keeping himself in the range of his attack. While it is not as flashy and as destructive compared to the first Raid, this is a high level swordsmanship being displayed right now. This is how a true swordsman should be fighting. Fight against your opponent in the most efficient manner. This is what Hiruzen taught his protégé early on in their Kendo training.

Jiraiya on the other hand is cheering for his grandson "Atta boy… Show them how the Namikazes kick ass".

The rest in the room just watch the screen in speechless. Speechless in how Naruto is effectively dispatching 3 of his opponent all in under 10 seconds.

Before Naruto is able to dispatch the two blind opponent, the forth and the fifth bandit engage him in a two to one sword fight.

Seeing Naruto have to handle 2 opponents, Kushina is still worried despite the skill Naruto already displayed earlier. "Naru-chan" said Kushina in a concerned tone.

* * *

_**Back to Naruto**_

"Two against one huh? No problem" said Naruto to himself.

Both of them using a sword rushes in to attack Naruto at the same time. Naruto immediately ran towards the bandit on his right. Rather than using his sword to block the strike, Naruto rushed into the bandit using his superior speed and uses his left hand to grab the bandit's armed wrist preventing him from swinging his sword. The other bandit at his rear is still running towards him. Naruto brought down his left hand causing the bandit to lose his balance. Naruto then swung his left hand and together along with the bandit he is holding who crashes against the incoming bandit. Without releasing his grip on the bandit, Naruto then pulled the bandit to regain his balance from his force he exert when he fling the bandit, at the same time striking to blind the bandit.

In the same motion when he pulled the bandit, Naruto rushes forward to kill fifth bandit. However, the bandit manage to block Naruto's strike to the neck. Naruto however is relentless in his attack. His follow up attack meet his mark as Naruto thrust his sword into the chest where the heart is suppose to be. Once again, a familiar sound of polygon shattering can be heard.

Facing the three blind bandits, Naruto easily dispatch them without much effort. It only took Naruto one strike to the critical spot and they disappear into fragments of polygons.

From the corner of Naruto's eye, he realized that he had missed counting one bandit. The bandit is seen running away from the square. This is a typical programming of the bandits. When they are the only one left, they will flee from the battle and lure the pursuing player into a trap.

Naruto immediately chased after the fleeing bandit.

Inside the narrow tunnel, Kirito is keeping his watch when he heard footsteps coming towards him from the back. Seeing a bandit is running towards him, he readies his swords. With a sudden burst of speed, Kirito vanishes from his spot. The bandit didn't even have the time to arm himself when he is cut by Kirito's first slash. The bandit didn't even have the chance to pull his sword from his sheath when the second slash came from Kirito's second sword. In the narrow tunnel, Kirito push forward for every slash he gave the bandit. Whenever his right hand had performed a smooth slash, his left hand immediately followed up with the next strike. In just a matter of seconds when the bandit's HP drop to zero and disintegrate into polygons.

Not long after that, Naruto is seen running towards Kirito in the narrow entryway. "Kirito, have you seen a bandit running away?"

"I've took care of him. So you've cleared the square?" asked Kirito nonchalantly.

"Duh… Who are you talking to mate? They are hardly a challenge when they are blind" Naruto said.

"Now, we wait. It is too risky to lure the boss from the river. So, we wait till the boss is in the vicinity then we lure him in. Since the boss usually moves around, he will come here eventually" said Kirito.

* * *

_**In Naruto's and Kazuto's room**_

Seeing Kazuto and Naruto displaying their skills in the art of swords, they are really impressed with the Kendo prodigies. While Naruto strikes are fast and precise, Kazuto's slice is fluid and quick.

"Wow…" is all Suguha can say witnessing Naruto's and Kazuto's skill.

"From what I can see they are in a league of their own" commented Tsunade.

"No kidding. Compare to the bunch from yesterday, yesterday's player is like a total joke. I think they can easily fight the Izlude Seven Swordsman all at once and still come out on top" Jiraiya added his own opinion.

The Izlude Seven Swordsman is the title referring to the 7 strongest players from Izlude Raid by the media. They are the players who fought the boss of the Raid. They are Zabuza, Mangetsu, Fuguki, Ameyuri, Jinpachi, Kushimaru and Jinin. While Diabel did perform admirably, his skill still pales in comparison to the seven of them. Their skills while fighting the boss totally overshadow Diabel's contribution in the Raid.

All of them paid attention to the screen while wondering what they will do next only to see both of them are waiting for something. While waiting, the boys start to talk with each other explaining what they are going to do next and make some of their brotherly banter with each other. All of them in the room laugh out a little, relieved that at least they are still have each other in that world.

* * *

_**30 minutes later with the boys**_

"This waiting is boring" Naruto whined.

As Kirito is keeping his vigil he notices that the boss came into the vicinity. "All right Naruto, you can shove it now. The boss is approaching. I will lure him into the square. You handle blinding the grunts. Two or three blind bandits is enough to do the job. When you are done, then come and join if you want" said Kirito.

"Hell no. You are not going to get all the fun. I gonna get it done so fast you won't be able to take off more than a quarter of his HP before I join in" challenge Naruto.

"Heh… We'll see" said Kirito as he stand up from where he is and walked out from where he is hiding to lure the boss to the square.

The boss having seen Kirito, draw out his sword and ran towards Kirito.

Instead of charging in, Kirito ran into the narrow entryway. The moment boss enter the entryway, Kirito jumped up and slash both of his sword at the right side of his face. With the bulky size of the boss, the entry way seems a little confined whereas Kirito had some space to work with. Now that Kirito gain his attention and hate, the boss recovered from the hit and starts to rushed towards Kirito going deeper into the tunnel.

Kirito evade the boss random swing easily as in the narrow tunnel, the boss is having trouble swinging his sword. Every time the boss thrust or swing his sword, Kirito will either dodge and counter attack or parry using one of his sword and attack using his other sword simultaneously.

Naruto on the other hand waited until the boss is several feet in the tunnel before he goes after them and wait for the grunts to come after them. Waiting at the entrance, Naruto stand ready to take on the rushing bandits. As they neared the entrance, Naruto back step into the tunnel. One of the bandits rush into the tunnel only to have Naruto suddenly lunge forward and slash his sword at the bandit's eye. The bandit seems to be disoriented as he seems to be moving in circle.

Naruto back stepped again when another bandit run past the blind bandit and try to stab Naruto with his spear. Once again Naruto parry the spear and counter with his swift and precise strike to the eye of the bandit blinding him. Taking a step back, Naruto uses one of his techniques [Bash]. The result, the blind spear wielding bandit is knocked back several steps into the other blind bandit. Both of the bandits are disoriented and are circling at their spot. This causes a blockage in the narrow tunnel and the remaining bandits can't move in.

From what they had experimented before, when the human class mob is blinded, they will rely on their secondary sense which is their sense of hearing. Since the largest source of sound at the moment is from the bandits flooding the entrance of the tunnel, they effectively block the rest of the bandits' path into the square.

The moment Kirito is seen jumping out from the other end of the tunnel, the boss HP is already half gone with the green bar already turned into yellow.

With a smirk, Kirito said "What took you so long? I'm already half way there. Can't handle the small fries?"

"You wish. I just thought that maybe I could finally hear for once the mighty Kirito begging for my help" said Naruto while he is on the air slashing the boss at the back of his head causing the boss to stumble forward.

Taking advantage of the stumbling boss, Kirito rushed towards the boss and give his retort saying "Not today. Better luck next time" while dishing in half a dozen of strikes to the boss with each of his strike coming from both of his sword alternating left and right before jumping away from the boss.

"One of these days you will" said Naruto while he is hacking his sword at the back of the boss dealing additional damage.

The boss then shouts out and his sword glows. Kirito noticing the boss is going to unleash a sword technique quickly told Naruto "He's about to use a technique. Prepare to block or dodge" to which Naruto gave him a nod and jumped back to counter the technique the boss will be using.

The boss then jumped up high in the air before plunging his sword into the ground creating a massive shockwave.

Fortunately, the shockwave didn't hit either of them. The moment the boss jumped up into the air, they already know what kind of technique will be used. That particular technique while powerful is easily recognizable and they have a window of a good few seconds to prepare and counter that move. While the shockwave of created from that move is hard to evade, it is not an impossible task to do. All they have to do is timed their jump properly.

When the boss plunge his sword into the ground, both Kirito and Naruto is already in the air. With the amount of HP the boss is left with a few good hits will end it. So they decide to use their technique for a flashy finish.

Naruto shouted [X Slash] which his sword glowed and Naruto slash the boss first on the side of his neck. However, the technique has not ended yet. While Naruto is falling, Naruto armed hand is brought up again and deal another slash opposite in direction from his first slash at the boss side.

Kirito shouted [Circular Slash] and both of his sword glowed. He angled his body such that he is slanting at about 30 degrees. With a circular motion, his right sword cut the other side of the boss neck in one swift motion. With his body still on the air, his body keep on spinning on the air as his left sword cut the boss a little lower that his first strike. While he is falling to the ground, Kirito's slashes keep on hitting the boss while Kirito manage to do 3 complete turns before his foot touch the ground which give him a total of 6 hits due to the momentum from his technique.

Both of the boys halt for a moment due to the delay from their use of skill. In the moment, the boss shatters into millions of polygons with the shattering polygon raining upon the boys like confetti celebrating their success in their Raid.

Naruto was the first to break the silence when he says "Ya'know, your dual wielding is like cheating. The technique that you used that is supposed to be a single move technique ends up giving you a 6 hit combo. That's totally cheating" said Naruto.

Kirito gave Naruto a smug look before explaining "The first two strikes are from the technique from my both of my sword. Since I'm in the air without resistance, the momentum from the spin allows me to deal normal damage for the successive slash. Why? You jelly?".

Before Naruto can give his retort, a character suddenly teleported in front of them. She introduces herself as Ai-chan and congratulate them in successfully completing the Raid Event. She also told them that they will have a 5 minutes interview which will be recorded and shared with all the players and the people outside. Confused as they didn't have any feature like this during the beta test, they figure it must be a reward for completing a Raid Event where they can use this opportunity to tell their families and friends how they are doing in Midgard.

* * *

_**In Naruto's and Kazuto's room**_

After winning the boss fight, Ai-chan appears again and told them they will have a video taken of them and what they want to say. When Naruto says they are ready, the room fell silent as they wanted to hear what Naruto and Kazuto had to say.

"Err… Hi there everyone. My name is Naruto to everyone that doesn't know me. Umm… Haha this is kinda embarrassing. Well in any case, I want to tell to my family that I'm doing fine here. No biggie. Nothing I and Kirito can't handle. By the way, Kirito is Kazuto. So tell his family he is fine too" said Naruto

"Hey I can tell them myself. C'mon we only have 5 minutes get it over with. I want my turn baka" said Kirito from behind.

"Opps. Well in any case, Kaa-chan…" Naruto said.

Kushina, hearing her son is addressing her is paying her full attention to the screen with tears in her eyes.

"… as you can see I'm fine here. Knowing you, you are probably worried sick about me. I'm sorry for all the trouble I have caused from this. Don't worry about me. There's newspaper here in Midgard too and their news is synchronized with the news out there. So, I know our body are being taken care of and I can focus on beating this game to come back to you and tou-san" Hearing that from her son, Kushina tears couldn't hold anymore and starts falling down her cheek. "Tou-san, take care of kaa-chan kay? What am I saying? Of course you'll do so. Umm… Don't overwork yourself tou-san. You are not any younger ya'know? Hahaha… Anyway, I'll try to come back as soon as possible. Err… I don't wanna hog the camera much longer else, Midori-obaa gonna skin me for not giving Kiri… I mean Kazuto his time. Love you kaa-chan, tou-san. Tell baa-chan, ero-jiji and the Kirigayas that I missed them too" said Naruto while scratching the back of his head.

Kazuto then step forward "Ahem… My name is Kirito for everyone in Midgard. To my family, Kirito is just my alias here. In any case, if you can't recognize me or if jiji had gone senile, I'm Kazuto".

Hiruzen being teased by Kazuto said in humor "Boy watch your mouth, else I'll up your training when you two get back".

"Well in any case, both Naruto and I have been doing really well here. Heh? I bet jiji is pretty envious of us right now. Hahaha… Tou-san, kaa-san... Err… I know you all and Sugu will be worried. Sorry for all the trouble I have caused. Like Naruto said, we are being taken care by with the best facilities, so don't worry too much about us here. We will tread carefully here and we always have a safety margin to work with. I have missed you all, so we'll be working to beat this game as soon as possible. When we return, remember to throw us a celebration party. Hahaha…" said Kazuto.

"Hey we have some few seconds left" said Naruto came into view. "Well, to the citizens of Midgard, I made a promised here and now in this video that I will do my best to beat this game and free all of you. Believe it" promised Naruto.

"The hell you are" interjected Kazuto. "You won't be doing that without me. And if I don't reassure Kushina-obaa after your declaration that I will join you, she will probably skin me alive" continued Kazuto which Kushina snickered a bit through her sobs.

"Oh before that, to the Namikazes and Kirigayas, Naruto and I will be doing Raids in the future to updates about us. Goodbye" said Kazuto when the screen fade out.

After Kazuto's and Naruto's interview video ended, everyone in the room is relieved that both of them are doing well in that world. The assurance they gave them although is not enough to completely remove their anxiety especially their mothers, it however did give them some form of relieve from not knowing what is happening to them in the other world for a whole week.

"I gotta say, those two kids make a better raiding team then the whole raiding team in the previous Raid" said Tsunade.

"Hahaha… Damn… That is my grandson, trying to pull off a Raid with just two players. Atta boy" laughed Jiraiya who got an angry look from his daughter in law, Kushina.

"You think it is funny that Naruto is trying to get himself killed? I will ground him if he is not already grounded to his Nerve Gear for pulling this stunt. But I guess I'll forgive him this time" said a smiling Kushina relieved that Naruto and Kazuto are both safe and touched by what her son said.

Minato walked towards his wife and place his hand on her shoulder before saying "The kids are pretty smart. They understand how the AI will react and how the Raid is designed to work. Go after the boss while keeping their grunts away. That is why a Raid usually needs a big party. A select few will fight against the boss while the others keep the grunts from interfering. With just two of them, they pre-select a location where they are going to fight the boss beforehand to have field advantage. The location they choose only have one entrance and it is a bottleneck. By blinding some bandits in the narrow entrance, they effectively blocked the incoming reinforcement from the outside. It's is a pretty risky gambit to pull unless they already know the blind bandits won't be moving after they are blinded and the bandits are programmed to not push against each other".

"So, both Kazuto and Naruto are aware of the trick to safely beat the Raids. But this can only happen if they know the layout of the city beforehand. In an unknown terrain, they will never be able to use this trick effectively" said Minetaka.

"So, now the question is how Kazu and Naruto knows the layout of the city beforehand?" asked Midori.

They were all silently pondering the answer to Midori's question until Suguha voice break the silence.

"I think Kazu-nii and Naru-nii has been playing the game longer than the release of the game" said Suguha earning confused stares from the adults in the room. "I… I mean that Kazu-nii and Naru-nii is probably one of the beta testers for the game. I had heard them talking among themselves about this game several months back" continued Suguha.

"Hmm… That explains it" said Midori.

The room fell silent again when Jiraiya said "Well, in any case, I can't wait to see tomorrow's news. A Raid Event beaten by two kids and no casualties. It will definitely make headline tomorrow. Today we have the 'Izlude Seven Swordsman'. I wonder what title the media is going to give Naruto and Kazuto?"

Hiruzen who has kept quiet all this while then said "Wow… I'm really envious of both Kazuto and Naruto. Minetaka, I heard that there are still unused copies of the game out there right? Hehe… I wonder if I could get a hand on it."

"NO FATHER" shouted Minetaka. "We have enough to worry with Kazuto and Naruto. We don't need you to add in into the mix."

"But… but… but… it really cool" said Hiruzen with a pout. "I already have half my leg in the coffin anyway, at least let me enjoy being young again".

"Hahaha… Good one old man. If you ever get one, I would like to join too. So, Minato-kun, could you get 2 copies of the game" said Jiraiya. "My body is feeling old and my body can't keep up with my mind. We might even feel healthier in that world".

"Oh… So, now you are feeling old now is it? Then I guess someone is not getting any tonight" teased Tsunade heaving her chest a little to further provoke Jiraiya.

Jiraiya looks like he got hit in his balls crying tear anime-style while Minato said "Kaa-san" with a horrified look on his face, uncomfortable hearing his parent talking about sex in the open even if in a joking manner.

The atmosphere in the room brighten, relieved that little heroes is fine and with their heartwarming speech, the mood among the Kirigayas and Namikazes improves. Even Kushina is seen smiling when she leaves the room by the end of the visiting hours as for the past week, Kushina had never once smiled.

* * *

A/N: Ah... Hope you guys enjoy the tactics they used to beat the Raid. While I can go the "go all out and kick ass" route, I rather have them beat the Raid with some tactics coupled with their experience during the beta. I don't want to portray them as overly powerful. There isn't much characters yet I have introduced so one might think they are overly powerful. But I assure they are not. They need to be this powerful cause later on they will have to face even stronger adversary.

By the way, what do you guys think of the method to clear the game and the Raids? Then there is also the bit about the loophole in the law and giving the audience some insight into the game. These are my original ideas so I would liked some feedback.

Hehe.. I'm sure you have all noticed rather than 10000 players there is only 8000+ players in the game. With what Hiruzen had said, I'm pretty sure you all will be thinking what I will probably do in the future right? Well, in any case, that arc about unused copies of the game will be coming much later in the story. At the moment, I'm more focused on the concept of the game and explain the in-game features.

To be honest, I have no idea whether I want Haku be a male or female. I won't even use the Seven Swordsman that much other than establishing them as the reference point for awesomeness. They won't have too much of influence in the plot till much later in the game.

Love it or hate it? Drop some reviews.

Till my next update, Zephryc.


	7. Chapter 7: Heroes Quest

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Naruto and Ragnarok Online. I only borrowed the concept and characters from Sword Art Online, the characters from Naruto and the world of Ragnarok Online.**

Here's a new chappie. First of all I want to say I really appreciate the reviews. Although it wasn't much, it still motivates me to keep writing and update weekly. Thanks again for your reviews. You all make me a happy writer and when I'm happy I tend to do my work faster. Enjoy.

* * *

**CHAPTER 7**

Naruto is sitting on his futon stretching his hands and yawning. Looking around, the room is very spacious with a heavy influence on traditional Japanese design. At the end of his futon is a breakfast already prepared for him. Beside the meal is an issue of Midgard Daily. "Wow. Breakfast in bed. The system sure knows how to spoil their heroes" said a grinning Naruto while starts digging in his rice and fried fish with some miso soup.

After he had finished his breakfast and read about their exploits through the newspaper, he walked out of his room and headed to Kirito's room just opposite his room. Knocking on his door, Naruto said "Kirito, I will be taking a walk around Payon. See ya later". Hearing a muffled voice from the room, Naruto take it that Kirito knows where he is going and left to see the city a bit. Leaving his quarters, he saw the plaza square where they defeated the bandit boss in front of him. Yes, the Heroes Quarters are in the Palace of Payon.

Walking towards the tunnel, he notice there are NPC guards wearing the typical soldier attire you normally seen in those classic drama. When Naruto approach the tunnel, the guards standing at the opening salute him and greeted "Good morning, Naruto-sama". Ahh… The glory of a hero. All the NPCs in the city will add the "-sama" suffix to all the heroes that survive the Raid. Walking through the tunnel there is another pair of guards standing at the exit of the tunnel. They too greeted Naruto the same way as the guards earlier.

Naruto meanwhile is scratching the back of his head and said to himself "Hehe… I can totally live with this".

Yesterday night, after Ai-chan had teleported away, the customary hero celebration is held. NPC's is seen coming out from the buildings and celebratory dance is performed by them with fireworks decorating the night skies. Every town and city in Midgard had their own unique culture. Payon's culture is similar to a traditional Japanese village. Even the music background theme for the city has an oriental tune to it. However, don't let that traditional village crap fool you. Payon is massive. It is even bigger than Prontera City. However, Payon has less buildings and more greenery. The reason why Payon Raid is so much tougher than Izlude Raid is because a larger city means it's harder to find the boss. The fact is, Izlude is one of the smallest town in Midgard making it one of the easiest Raid event in the game, hence why they consider them the tutorial for Raid events.

Unlike yesterday night where the whole city is empty with only the NPCs seen walking around the streets, today there are more players walking around the city. These players are looking around the city as it is definitely a total change in scenery compared to Prontera and Izlude. Some of the players that recognize him from Midgard Daily even came over to him to congratulate on a job well done.

Naruto made his way to the local Kafra office to sell his current map data and update his own map to check the current progress of the exploration of Midgard. The exploration is expanding, slowly but surely. Now there are already 2 cities and a town freed. So, more players now should have a place to stay now.

His next stop is the weapon and armor shop. There, he sells all the loots he had gathered from the two days of travelling from Prontera to Payon. Of course, for players who want to visit but don't want to spend two days to walk from Prontera and Izlude, they have another option of using the Kafra Teleport Service. That service requires a certain amount of fee depending on the city or town you want to go though it is quite expansive. Of course it needs not to be said that they can only teleport to the city or town that had already been freed.

To be honest, Kirito and Naruto had discussed among themselves and conclude that they can skip every one of the Raid Event till the furthest city they have freed during the beta test except the Payon Raid. The reason is that Payon has the best hero's quest in their opinion although not many beta testers share the same opinion. Furthermore, in Payon, influenced heavily by traditional Japanese culture, they must be accompanied by the one of the Japanese food, ramen. This is Naruto's prime motivator to complete the Payon Raid as soon as possible as the fastest access to the food is sold by vendors in Payon. A faster way to get ramen is to cook it yourself but that is neither here nor there as they don't have the required skill to cook.

Naruto is in one of the ramen restaurant when Kirito calls out to him and took a seat next to him. "I know I will find you here, Naruto"

"Yeah, well… It's ramen. Go figure" replied Naruto inhaling his ramen.

"So, are you going to take the hero's quest?" asked Kirito. Hero's quest is a solo quest only for the players that had participated in the town's Raid can do. They can only do this quest once. Usually one can't fail in the hero's quest as when you died you will respawn and try again later. However since this has become a death game, you will only have one try to complete the quest. In Payon, there are two hero's quests. However, instead of doing both of them, one can only choose one of the quests. Since they had discussed before which quest they want to do, Kirito know which quest Naruto is aiming for.

"Yeah. After I'm done with this bowl of ramen first" replied Naruto still eating his ramen.

"I'll probably finish my quest by late evening. So, dinner when you are done?" asked Kirito

"Sure. We'll just meet up here after we are done with our quest" said Naruto.

"Well, in any case, I'm going to do my quest too. Don't get over your head while doing the quest kay?" said Kirito standing up from his seat.

Looking at Kirito with a serious face, Naruto replied "Yeah… You too" while lifted his fist up.

Knowing what that gesture means, Kirito raised his right fist and bump into Naruto's fist saying "See ya later" and left the restaurant while Naruto continue enjoying his ramen.

* * *

_**With Kirito**_

Kirito approaches a house near the outskirt of Payon when a man dressed in farmer attire notice he is approaching. Upon seeing Kirito, the old man ran towards him and bowed down before him begging for his help with a yellow exclamation mark on his head. That is the indicator of a quest. That farmer NPC begged "Kirito-sama. Thank God you are here. My son is being haunted by a spirit ever since he returned from a cave. I beg you please, Kirito-sama. Please save my son".

"Alright. I will help you in saving your son" said Kirito to indicate that he accepted that quest.

Hearing Kirito's answer, the exclamation mark on his head disappeared and the farmer said "Thank you Kirito-sama. The spirit is dwelling in the Wailing Cave three miles west from here. The priest had sealed the cave entrance when he heard the spirit is haunting my son. He should be able to unseal the entrance. The priest lives in a temple on the way to the cave." said the NPC.

Kirito then trekked his way to the temple. Entering the temple, there is a priest meditating sitting in lotus style. Without turning to face him, the priest then said "Ah… I have been expecting you, the Payon Hero, Kirito-sama. May I be of assistance?" asked the NPC priest.

The way the quest work, one must give an appropriate response for the quest system of the game to register that you are doing the quest. "Yes. I was told that the entrance to Wailing Cave was sealed. I hear that you can unseal it" answered Kirito.

The priest is silent for awhile, while the system is processing his words to determine the NPC's next response. "I see. The spirit in that cave is very vengeful. I don't think it is wise for anyone to enter that cave."

Now comes the hard part. Unlike some of the easier quest where one just follows the order and complete their objective, some of the quest had a hidden parameter to it. In this particular quest, there is a hidden [convincing] parameter. This is the part where many of the beta testers got stuck and unable to progress in the quest during the beta test. Answers like "I don't care", "I can handle them" or even "I'm here to help a poor child" won't progress. Here you must carefully word your response to 'convince' the priest that you can handle the quest. During the beta test, Kirito was stuck at this challenge for 2 weeks before he can convince the priest and progress.

"I seem to recall that you are expecting me. You know my name before I have even introduced myself. Perhaps I was the one you are waiting for to end the vengeful existence of the spirit and guide the spirit to its peace" answered Kirito like he had rehearsed this line before. During the beta phase, Kirito had to ask every NPC in Payon to collect information for him to deduce what is an appropriate answer.

"Ha-hahaha-hahahahaha. I knew you are the one I'm waiting for. Well said young hero. Use this amulet on the sealed entrance" said the NPC priest handing Kirito an amulet. "That should give you access into the cave. I have been waiting for a hero to guide the misguided spirit back to find her peace. She used to be…" and the priest starts talking about the history of the spirit. After learning or rather in Kirito's case re-learning the history of the spirit, the priest said "Young hero, the spirit being trapped in that caves for so long is accustomed to dark and thus fears fire. Here I bestow upon you, the temple's sacred fire sword, the [Crimson Edge]. Use it to purify the soul of the spirit." said the priest before handing Kirito the crimson bladed sword.

The [Crimson Edge] is the strongest weapons at this stage and perhaps even after 4 months later. This sword will be accompanying him for a very long time. Well given the amount of effort one had to put in, Kirito figured that it is a suitable reward for all the tedious work.

After Kirito left the temple, he gave a sigh before going to complete the quest. Since this is the second time Kirito do the quest, he now understands why not many people like to do this quest. The information the NPCs gave is very vague. It only gives the location, the history of the spirit and its weakness. While during the beta, Kirito had no problem doing this quest as he liked the challenge and facing a little uncertainty makes it more interesting, now is a totally different story. With so few information to go on, there is no way Kirito will do this quest if this is his first time. There is no information regarding the strength of the spirit. Furthermore, gathering the information from the NPCs in Payon is a very tedious work. Payon is not small damn it.

When Kirito reaches the [Wailing Cave], he uses the amulet on the sealed entrance. With a glow, the wall sealing the entrance crumbles. From his memories, fighting the spirit is the quite easy. With a weakness to fire, a normal strike from the [Crimson Edge] will deal a huge amount of damage. While it will be quite an easy fight, Kirito didn't want to take any chances. Not when his life in on the line. Properly checking that he has already equipped the [Crimson Edge] he walked into the [Wailing Cave].

When he entered the cave, he need not find the [Wailing Spirit] as the cave only has one chamber and is actually quite small although there is enough space to move around and fight. At the center of the cave is the spirit. The spirit has bony limbs wearing a dark cloak covering its head. Through the cloak is a skull. Instead of empty eye sockets, the spirit had a black eyeball with a red circle at the center which Kirito assume to be its iris. The spirit floats a feet above the ground as well.

Without wasting anytime, Kirito charged in. The [Crimson Edge] at his right hand, he thrust the sword straight at the spirit. Being hit by the sword, the spirit wailed even louder before floated away from Kirito and starts attacking Kirito with its bony hands.

The battle wasn't that interesting to say the least. Kirito being as cautious as he can evades all the attacks from the spirit before giving the spirit one or two slashes from his [Crimson Edge]. Fighting against AI mobs, rather than attacking them straight on, it is better to evade their attacks and counter them immediately. Rinse and repeat, and the mob will eventually fall. Since the spirit is the only mob in that cave, Kirito take his time evading and countering when he sees a chance. While Kirito can end the battle much faster, he preferred to finish the fight without wasting 1 HP. In this game, HP is your life and he is not about to waste even a sliver of his life when he can help it.

Before long, the, Wailing Spirit finally disintegrate into polygons.

Appearing in front of Kirito is the word '_Congratulations. You have completed Hero's Quest: The Wailing Spirit'._

Then a pop-up menu appears in front of Kirito stating 'You have obtained Coat of Midnight x1.

Kirito grinned when he read the notification menu. 2 quest item in a single quest? Yeah… This is why the quest is totally worth it.

* * *

_**With Naruto**_

After Naruto had finished eating his ramen, he left the restaurant and headed to start his Hero's quest. He walked for about 15 minutes until he reaches the edge of Payon. This side of Payon is filled with trees and there is a forest nearby. He approaches one of the houses there and walked into the house.

Naruto greeted "Hello" to initiate the event.

The man Naruto assumed to be the man of the house came into view with an exclamation mark on his head. When he saw Naruto, his eyes widen and walked up to him before saying "Thank God you are here Naruto-sama. We are having a problem which I hope you can help us with."

"Sure. What is the problem?" asked Naruto.

The man paused for a moment to process Naruto's reply before the exclamation mark disappears from his head and answered "Recently my livestock have been eaten by some beast from the forest. Usually, the beasts in the forest will avoid where people lives. However this particular beast is very tricky. We have tried to set up traps but that beast cleverly evades all the traps we have set for it. Could Naruto-sama hunt down that beast for us?" asked the NPC.

"No problem" answered Naruto.

"Thank you very much Naruto-sama. The beast seems to be a fox with nine tails. Here, take this as a bait to lure out that fox. The fox is said to have been spotted at a clearance in the woods North West from here" said the NPC.

Naruto then left the house and headed towards the woods. While walking there, Naruto said to himself "You have the bait, you know where it was, why they can't hunt it themselves? Freaking lazy NPCs"

When Naruto reached the mentioned clearing, he opens his item menu and used the bait. The item then appeared at the center of the clearing.

Naruto waited for a minute or two before an orange fox with nine fluffy tails approach the bait from the woods. Before the fox reached the bait, the fox growled at Naruto and glare at Naruto with hostility. Naruto immediately move his hand to the left side of his hips grabbing the hilt of his sword but didn't draw out his sword yet.

The fox then immediately ran towards Naruto. Halfway through, the fox jumped and bare its fangs and claws at Naruto. Timing his attack, Naruto shouted "Iai" and drawing out his sword from his sheath at a very fast speed and at the same time, connect a hit to the incoming fox. [Iai] is a 1 hit technique that requires the players to pull out their sword from their sheath. This is one of the few techniques that have zero delay and is a very powerful technique dealing critical damage no matter where you strike. However this technique is only useful for the opening gambit of a battle as no one will resheath their sword until the battle is over. The fact that one needs to stay stationary to perform this technique limits the use of this technique further.

When Naruto's sword technique hit the fox, the fox flew back from the attack and stumbling on the ground. Capitalizing on his advantage, Naruto move in to do some basic Kendo strikes on the fox. When the fox regain its balance, the fox counter attack by clawing at Naruto's chest. Naruto narrowly blocked the attack using his sword but the fox follow up its attack by swiping its tail at Naruto's feet. Anticipating that tail swipe, Naruto jump back. While Naruto is still on the air, the fox immediately leap towards Naruto trying to sink its claw into Naruto. While Naruto manage to block the first claw, the fox second claw manages to scratch Naruto's chest. Feeling a stinging sensation from that scratch, Naruto grunted. Looking at his injury on his chest, he saw 4 lines of red lines in the shape of a claw mark to signify Naruto indeed had taken some damage although the damage just chipped off a couple of his HP.

Naruto strike and slash while the [Ninetails Fox] claw and bite Naruto for a better part of 5 minutes. While Naruto manage to block most of the fox's attacks there are a few claws and bites that went through Naruto defenses. Although not much, those attack still stings a little. When the fox HP drop to the red zone, Naruto intensify his attacks to end the battle.

When the HP bar of the [Ninetails Fox] reaches zero, instead of shattering into polygons, the sound of rustling leaves could be heard from the woods.

"Please don't kill the fox" shouted a voice from the woods. Coming out from the woods and immediately running towards the fox and shielding it from further harm is a female NPC. "Kurama is not a bad fox. He only goes to out to hunt for the chicken at the village to bring the chicken back to me. Recently my mother is not feeling very well. I was told that a chicken broth will make her feel better. Kurama is only trying to help me" said the female NPC in tears while the fox named Kurama whimpered and licked on the female NPC's tears. "I'll… I'll leave this necklace here if you spare Kurama. Th-This necklace is a family heirloom. It should worth a lot" said the NPC begging Naruto.

Naruto giving a heavy sigh just said "Alright" to end the quest.

Hearing that, the female NPC bows to him and says "Thank you very much, thank you very much" before she get up cradling the fox in her arms and vanish into the woods.

Then there is a '_Congratulations. You have completed Hero's Quest: Ninetailes Hunt_' appears at the center of the clearing.

Naruto walked towards the clearing and picked up the necklace [Ninetails Crystal] and put it in his inventory.

Although this is the second time Naruto do this quest, he still felt a little let down for such an end to this quest. This whole quest makes Naruto seems to be the villian instead of the hero. While Naruto can be a little mischievous, he doesn't like hurting those that doesn't deserve it. It goes against the code he learned from Kendo. Yes, even NPCs. "Damn that Kayaba dude making the NPCs so real" is Naruto's thought.

"Man… I'm such an ass" Naruto said to himself. While Naruto didn't like the role he plays in this quest, he doesn't want to miss out in this item either. This is one of the most sought after item during the beta phase after all, and it will be priceless since this will be a one of a kind item as there will be no other heroes to perform this quest. Convincing himself this is just how the story of the quest goes, he walked back to Payon to meet up with Kirito for dinner.

* * *

_**Several hours later**_

Kirito and Naruto are having their dinner at the ramen restaurant. Throughout their meal, they discussed about their own quest. While both of them heard about each other's quest before, it's always interesting to listen to what they did differently this time. It is halfway through their dinner that both of them receive a surprise visitor.

The visitor wore a hooded cloak with some claw like weapon hanging at her left waist. She has brown eyes and curly auburn hair. The most distinctive feature about her though is the whiskers on her face. "Hi there, how's the 'Twin Heroes' is adjusting to their new found fame?" said the visitor before sitting beside Kirito.

Hearing that title, Kirito face palmed himself while Naruto just gave a hearty laugh. The title 'Twin Heroes' was given by the media when both Kirito and Naruto pull off the Payon Raid with just two players. While the success of the Raid rely heavily on their plan, the media gives more attention to them quoting from the paper '2 heroes single-handedly freed a city', 'fought like masterful swordsman' and the like.

"I don't know what the hell is wrong with the media. How the hell we look like twins? He has black hair and black eyes whereas I'm a blonde with blue eyes. I'm guessing the editor is smoking some crazy shit when he or she wrote this" said Naruto.

Argo laughed at what Naruto had said while Kirito just sighed.

"Argo what brings you here?" asked Kirito.

"Hahaha… Straight to the point Ki-bou. I like it. I want information of course. Everyone now knows the both of you are the only Payon Heroes and every beta testers knew there are two hero's quests in Payon. What I want to know is of course which of the quest the two of you did?" replied Argo.

Kirito slowly place his chopstick down before turning to face Argo "And why should I tell you anything about it?"

"C'mon Ki-bou. Don't do this to me. You have profit a lot from my information right. Do this as favour for me, please" pleaded Argo.

"It's not that I don't want to help you Argo, but if I told you about this, chances are every player interested in the quest items will be hunting us, constantly pestering us to sell the items. I don't want that" explained Kirito.

Knowing she won't be getting anything she tried to ask Naruto to get the information. "Ne… Naruto how about you it? We can exchange some information ya'know. C'mon Hero-kun, how about it?"

Naruto narrowed his eye a while before he saying "All right".

Kirito's eyes widen and Argo clearly was ecstatic as if she had won the jackpot.

Naruto then said "However we want something in return" signifying Kirito is in this too whether he likes it or not.

"The hell you are doing, Naruto" Kirito said internally.

Naruto continued "I want your network Argo".

This surprised both Kirito and Argo.

"You want my network? Aren't you getting ahead of yourself? What did you know about running an information network?" said Argo a little pissed.

"Relax, Argo. What I meant is that I want you to work for us. Any new information we gain during our travels in Midgard, we will give it to you for free and there will be allowance for you too. To support your network mustn't be cheap. The money you have earned from selling your information is just enough for you to barely support the network. Any expansion effort will require you to chip in more money I believe? With your time spent on your network, you won't have enough time to hunt for good weapons and equipment. So, we will give you any good equipment for your effort as well. In return, we want all the information you have gathered" said Naruto.

Argo is contemplating on his proposal. Indeed, running an information network isn't easy. Especially in an open world MMORPG. Having two of the best players in the game to help with supporting her network wasn't a bad idea at all. Having good equipment from these two? That's the icing to the cake. Well, she was very tempted to take the offer. But she had to be clear with something. "So, if I accept your offer, can I still sell information? Information is a two way channel. If you want my network to be effective, I must be willing to sell information as well or else, people won't be coming to me" explain Argo.

"You need not worry. You can run your network the way you like it. You can sell every information you have except mine and Kirito's information. When you are asked about us, just say you don't have the information. That's the only restriction you have. Our welfare is in your best interest after all. So, you wouldn't want your benefactor to be in a pinch I believe" said Naruto trying to convince Argo.

"Let... Let me think about it all right?" said Argo.

"Before you leave Argo, here something as a sign of goodwill" said Naruto and open his trade menu with Argo. Naruto then proceed to give Argo some of the equipment he had. The equipment although wasn't as good as theirs, they are certainly better than most of the average players.

"But I haven't even gave you my reply yet" said Argo.

"Well, just take it. We don't need it. Think of it this way, if we can give away equipment like this, think about what we can give away in the future and you will have the first pick" Naruto said nonchalantly.

After completing the trade, Argo left the restaurant and Kirito impressed with Naruto's sudden brilliance said "You brilliant bastard. Damn you are as sly as your old man, Naruto. Having Argo's network will definitely make things much easier. But from now on, we will have part of our money funneled to support the network" said Kirito.

"C'mon then take it as a motivation for us to grind. Furthermore, we are going to sell the equipment anyway. I believe Argo's information network's total worth will be more than the zeny we will get by selling the equipment anyway. It's a win-win situation. As long as she need us for the network, she wouldn't want to try to find so much info about us anyway. It is not in the interest of Argo to sell our information if she chooses to cooperate with us" Naruto said getting up from his seat with Kirito following him.

Both of them then headed back to the Heroes Quarters to rest after a day of quest. On their way, they kept talking about the prospect of having their own information network although it is by proxy. They kept walking until they reach the entrance to the palace.

Before they walk into the tunnel, they heard a soft voice behind them calling "Naruto-kun?".

* * *

A/N: Ta-da. This is a world where normal human are trapped in a VR game. So, there will be no sealed tailed beast. So, I use this method to give Naruto's exclusive access to Kyuubi. If you are worried Naruto will be over powered, well, there no need for it. The power from this equipment will be in the realms of gaming. While Kirito doesn't have powers like Naruto, he is already dual wielding now. Though it is not exclusive to him like in the novel/anime, I still gave him 2 quest items. So, I didn't play favourites.

Then there is the title for them. I feel "Twin Heroes" sounds kinda pretentious but, I not that imaginative as I thought, so I guess you will have to settle for this. I actually delayed my update for this chapter because I have been brainstorming a suitable name for them.

To answer ShadouRyu-kun, yes I'm a RO player. :) I will definitely be putting some of the weapons in RO in this story. There is no job class in my story since I want more freedom for the players. However there will be other 'feature' which will replace the job class. These features will be explained later.

Hmmm. Many people are asking when Hinata and Asuna will be showing up. They will be coming soon. I promise. How soon? Well, you will have to find out by reading the story. Haha.

Once again, don't be shy to drop down one or two reviews. I promise you I won't bite. I did like to hear your opinion of my story.

Till my next update, Zephryc.


	8. Chapter 8: Meeting the Heiresses

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Naruto and Ragnarok Online. I only borrowed the concept and characters from Sword Art Online, the characters from Naruto and the world of Ragnarok Online.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 8**

A fair skin girl with long waist length dark blue hair in a hime-styled haircut is seen enjoying her breakfast which consists of some bread, butter and jam and some orange juice. Remembering she had to share her breakfast with her roommate, she left a few piece of toast on the plate. Turning her head to the bed, her black eyes focus on the person lying there, not moving and unwilling to wake up. Only a mop of orange-brownish chestnut hair can be seen as the whole body is being covered by the blanket.

"Asuna-chan. Please wake up or else the breakfast will vanish again" said the soft spoken girl.

"Okay kaa-san" said the sleeping girl named Asuna before she sluggishly rises from the bed and headed to the table where the breakfast are. She gave a warming grin to her roommate and greeted her "Good morning, Hinata-chan".

"Good morning" Hinata replied in courtesy.

The room they are staying in is quite small and there is only one bed in the room. The room was designed for 1 person to sleep in after all. They have to share the room together due to the lack of rooms when players rushed to get a place to stay on the first day of the game after they were told by that are now trapped in this world.

Hinata didn't know Asuna prior to this incident. So, how did they end up being roommates in a small cramped 1 bedded room? It all started on the first day in this world, the official launching day of Ragnarok VR Online.

* * *

_**Flashback to the first day**_

It was Hinata's first time diving into a virtual environment. Not used to the new sensation of being in a virtual space, she is feeling a little under the weather. She decided to look for a place to rest for a while. While she is looking for an inn or of the sort, she was impressed with the design of the city and the details on the building. In fact, she feels like she is living in another part of the world. After a few minutes of walking, she notice there is a building with a signboard that says Inn. Walking into the building, she approaches the NPC sitting behind a wooden counter.

Noticing that Hinata is approaching, the NPC lifted her head and with a wide smile greeted her "Welcome to Prontera Inn. How may I help you?"

Not sure how to talk to a NPC, Hinata stammers "Ano… I-I… wa-want t-to t-take a re-rest. Hav… I mean… Is there any…"

The NPC identifying the key word that the player wants to take a rest, the NPC replied "Sure. Our single bedroom cost 100 zeny a night while a double bedroom cost 200 zeny a night. Which one will it be?"

"I'll t-take the sin-single bedroom" answer Hinata impressed with the intelligence of the NPC to be able to identify the player's conversation and respond accordingly.

"Thank you for your patronage. Your name has been registered to the room 101. Your room is on the first floor. If you are unsure on how to use the room, please press on the help button. I wish you an enjoyable stay with our establishment" said the NPC bowing to Hinata.

Hinata then proceed to the first floor. Standing in front of room 101, she opened the door. Looking around the room, there isn't much to say about it. There is a bed at the left side to her and to her right side is a door to the bathroom and a cupboard. Directly in front of her is the window with 2 chairs and a table in between. Closing the door behind her, she realized she can't lock her room. Looking around the door, she saw several buttons. Pressing on the [Help] button, a window pop out in front of her. In that window were instructions on how to use the functions in the room like how to lock the door, how to allow visitors into the room, how to adjust the brightness of the room and even how to take a shower. Carefully reading the instructions, Hinata then locked her room and she walked to her bed and sat on it. The bed was surprisingly soft. She then lie on her stomach and crawl over to the bedside lamp and proceed to play, I mean adjust the lighting of the room.

After adjusting the lighting in her room to her satisfaction, she had a smile on her face and said to herself "This is pretty fun. This is almost like a vacation".

* * *

_**A few hours later**_

Hinata is currently in her room cooped up with a blanket over her head for comfort. A few hours ago, she receive a notification message about an opening event that is to be held some place where she will be going to be teleported to. It is from then that everything starts going downhill.

When the giant hooded figure finished giving his speech, the crowd became uncontrollable. People start running away from the square. Hinata just stood on her spot, stunned. After the shock had left her, she wanders around aimlessly until she reaches her inn. When she saw the inn, she wonders where she is going to sleep that night only to realize she had a room and to her relieve, that room is still hers. Ever since then, she had been cooped up in her room till now.

The sky was already dark when Hinata's stomach is heard growling of hunger. She had started feeling hungry for some time but she ignored the feeling of hunger until now. Feeling she can't ignore the hunger any longer, she walked out from her room and tried to get something for her to eat. When she went to the ground floor of the inn, she noticed that there is a few groups of players crowding in front of the counter. Apparently there are limits to the amount of available room in the city and many of the players will not be able to get a room. Many of the players especially the males are eyeing her when she walked down the stairs.

One of the braver ones approached her and said "Hey there, beautiful. Do you mind to share the room with me? I will share the cost of the room. I don't mind paying the full cost either. What do you say?"

"Ano… I'm so-sorry. I already h-have a f-friend to share the r-room with" lied Hinata and proceed to exit from the inn in a hurry, trying to avoid the gaze from the male players.

She walked towards one of a nearby restaurant she remembered passing by this evening. She walked into the restaurant to see that the restaurant is full of players. However despite the restaurant is filled with players, the restaurant is silent. None of the players there are talking with each other and all of them had a gloom look to them.

She found an empty seat at the corner of the room. However there is already somebody occupying that table. She continued to scan the rest of the room to look for an empty table. Since this is the only restaurant nearby the inn and she didn't want to go too far away from the inn, she decided to ask if that person is willing to share the table. Asking a stranger if they are willing to share a table is a very big step for her.

Hinata is a very shy person in the real world. When she discovered this game, she thought this is the world where she can be herself and can live without the burden of being the Hyuuga heiress and escape from her father ridiculously high expectation of her. She realizes in this world, she can be a new person. This is one of the reasons Hinata bought the game in the first place.

The person sitting alone at the table was wearing a hood to cover their identity and gender. Gathering her courage, Hinata asked "Umm… Ex-Excuse me. Do you m-mind if I h-have the s-seat here?"

The hooded figure turns his/her head towards Hinata. After a while the figure gave a nod to indicate that she is free to take the empty seat. A NPC waitress approach Hinata and asked what she did like to eat. Looking at the menu that pop out in front of her, she looked through the list and choose a meal called [Fried Noodle], one of the cheapest item on the list. The waitress bowed, excused herself and said that the meal will be done shortly.

When the waitress left, Hinata gave a heavy sigh which didn't went unnoticed by the person sitting in front of her. Hinata then proceed to open her menu and check how much zeny she had left. Looking at the figure she realize that the starting money the game gave them is not enough to support a week worth of accommodation and food.

The hooded figure then speaks in a soft low voice which indicates that the hooded figure is a female player "Judging from your sigh, you don't have a place to stay as well? I heard this is one of the few restaurants in this city that is opened 24/7"

"Umm… N-Not really. I actually manage to get a room for myself this evening when I'm feeling a little tired before…" said Hinata but stopping there as she doesn't want to remember what happen this evening.

The hooded just remain in silent, understanding her reluctance to continue on. After a while the hooded player just said "Lucky you then".

"Yeah" is Hinata's only reply. As she is feeling a little uncomfortable she is one of the lucky ones to get a room where as the player in front of her along with many others will have to stay outdoors, the meal she ordered came.

Hinata started to eat her noodles when she had an idea. Hinata then tell the hooded figure truthfully "I am having some trouble to get enough money to pay for the room. While I will be ok for a few days, comes next week and I won't have the money to pay for it".

Hinata continues "Ano… Since… I mean, would you like to share a room with me? I have read that I can register a visitor to my room. Maybe we can share the cost of the room together and both of us will have a room together?"

Hearing the girl in front of her is offering to share a room with her, the hooded figure lift her head up a little but not enough for Hinata to see her whole face. Just enough to see the lower half of her face. Hinata now had her attention.

Hinata then continue "The room cost 100 zeny, so if we split it in half it will be 50 zeny. The room has a single bed, but I think the both of us can fit just nice. The room also comes with a shower, br..."

Upon hearing that there is a shower, the hooded figure brought up her head fully and Hinata can see her hazel eyes. She is a very pretty girl in her opinion and the hooded cape she wear must be to keep the male players from harassing her. The girl then said "You said they have a shower?"

"Yes. By the way, my name is Hinata" Hinata answered while introducing herself.

"My apologies. My name is Asuna" said the hooded girl.

The next few moments pass by with both of the girls beginning to get to know each other as they are going to be roommates. When Hinata finished her meal, both of the girls left the restaurant and head back to the Inn. Upon entering the inn, the crowd of male players eyed both of them. Although Asuna is wearing a hood, they can still recognize the body of a female player. The male players then start whispering among themselves. Female player is very rare in MMORPG. So, to see one is quite rare. Even rarer is when said player is really beautiful.

Reaching the first floor, Hinata stood in front of her room. She then proceeds to input Asuna's name as her visitor. She opened the door and invited Asuna in to her room.

When they entered the room, Hinata immediately lock the room.

Asuna then asked "Is it really safe? I have seen some of the players down there are creepily eyeing you when you walked up the stairs".

"I-I think so. From what I have read, they say the door will not open unless the system authorizes it. When I rented the room, the system recognizes me as the owner of this room. When I include your name into the visitor list, the system won't reject you coming into this room. However, you won't be able to open the door if I'm not in the room or when the room is locked" said Hinata while reading the help menu she just brought up to re-read about what they can and cannot do.

Hinata then show Asuna their room. "As you can see, this room is quite small but I think the single bed can accommodate the both of us. The shower is through that door" said Hinata while pointing at the bathroom door.

Asuna then proceed to remove her hooded cape and her long chestnut hair fell to her waist. "Hinata, could I use the shower. I haven't taken one since I have dived in. Although I don't feel particularly dirty, it still felt quite uncomfortable to have not shower" said Asuna.

After Asuna had taken her shower the two girls sat at the two chairs in the room and look out through the room's window. The city's night view is indeed beautiful. However with their current predicament, none of them is able to enjoy it.

The two of them continue to talk till late in the night sharing bits of their real life to each other. Hinata learned that Asuna's full name is Yuuki Asuna and is the daughter of Yuuki Shouzou, the CEO of an electronics company Recto. She also learns that Asuna didn't buy the game. She instead uses her brother's copy of the game. Her brother initially bought the game and intends to play it today. However he was suddenly called for a conference and have to take a flight to Kyoto. Asuna being curious about the game went into her brother's room and tried the game.

Asuna on the other hand learned that Hinata is the heiress to the Hyuuga Corporation. Hinata told her that in real life she is very shy and timid. The purpose she bought the game is because she thought she can change herself and be more assertive. She is also feeling the pressure of living up to her father's ridiculous expectation and this game is where she can escape from the burden her father placed on her even if only for a few moments. Whenever she performs well in her academics, her father will only tell her that she is the heiress of Hyuuga and bound to take over the family business. It is expected of her to perform admirably. She doesn't want to know if she can't live up to her father's expectation and she never wanted to try that. This is something Asuna can understand as her mother also sets a very high expectation of her although Hinata's father brings it to another whole level.

Although the topic they talked about is quite personal on some level, there is something the girls felt towards each other that makes both of them are so comfortable with each other. As they keep talking into the night, the both of them starts to feel tired and decide to retire to the bed. The both of them share the same bed and Hinata dim the lights of the room up till a point which both of them are comfortable with.

"Good night, Asuna" said Hinata.

"Good night, Hinata" replied Asuna.

Hinata close her eye trying to sleep. However, she can't seem to sleep. The same can be said of Asuna.

"Hinata?" Asuna called out to her roommate.

"Hai" Hinata replied.

"Erm… Hinata, can… can I" Asuna stammered.

Hinata understood what Asuna wants as she too needed the comfort of a person at the moment and hugged Asuna.

Asuna was startled by the hug but soon return the embrace and both of the girls silently cried, finding solace in each other. Asuna then said "Thank you, Hinata-chan".

Hinata surprised with Asuna's suffix to her, return her thanks by saying "You are welcome, Asuna-chan".

* * *

Next morning came and both of the girls were surprised when they saw a few slice of toast with butter and jam and a glass of orange juice is readied at the coffee table in their room. Both of them share the breakfast and left the inn together.

Like yesterday, Hinata gained the attention of the male players as she is walking around the city. Seeing Hinata didn't want the attention, Asuna brought Hinata to a store. Hinata bought the same hooded cape as Asuna had and wore it over her head.

They have discussed yesterday that both of them are going to try to earn some money instead of waiting for the money to run out. So, they went to the restaurant they met yesterday and gather some information on how to earn money in the game. They learned that in games like this, a player will go out to fight some monster, gather their drops and sell them for zeny. However there is a problem with this method. They didn't know how to fight in the game.

While they are discussing, a hooded player heard their dilemma and approached them from behind. "Hiya! Both of you girls have some problem?" asked the hooded player.

Both of the girls startled from the surprise and immediately turn to look at the person. Staring at them is a girl with whisker mark on her face.

"Opps… Sorry if I had startled you. Hi. My name is Argo" the whiskered girl introduces herself.

Asuna and Hinata nodded their head lightly before they introduced themselves to Argo.

"Nice to meet you, Asuna-san, Hinata-san. It is rare to see female players in a MMORPG game. I seem to overhear you had some problem finding some zeny. I usually charge for information but seeing both of you girls are new to this game and we girls should stick together, I will give this info to you for free" said Argo. "At the south west part of this city is a building called the Prontera Hunting Academy. It shouldn't be hard to miss. It is the largest building at that part of the city. In the academy, they will teach you all about the basics of hunting for free. It is just a two hour course and when you are done, you will be ready to earn your zeny" she continued.

"Thank you Argo-san. We will take your advice. Umm… You seem to know a lot about the game. You mind if we add you to our friend list so that we can ask on more pointers in the future?" ask Hinata.

"All right. No problem. But let me tell you something first, I'm an information broker. I sell information. While I'm not charging the both of you this time, don't expect to be free the next time girls" said Argo with a smile adding both Asuna and Hinata into her friend list.

"Sure. We understand. It won't hurt to know an experience friend anyway" said Asuna adding Argo to her friend list.

"Do you have a place to stay Argo-san?" asked Hinata also adding Argo to her list.

"Yeah… Found one. It is out of the city though. Here's another free information for you girls since I liked you. Throughout the whole Midgard, other than cities and towns, there are some houses located in the fields. One can stay in those houses but they will have to do a quest before they can stay there. You girls have a place to stay?" answered Argo while asking a question of her own.

"Yea. We are staying at the Prontera Inn at the moment" answered Hinata.

"Phew… You must be one of the early birds to be able to land a place to stay in the city. Well, in any case, I will be taking my leave. I wish you girls good luck" said Argo before giving a wink to the both of them and left.

Hinata and Asuna soon walked to the place Argo had told them earlier. Locating the largest building in the vicinity, both of them entered the building.

Two hours later, both of them walked out from Prontera Hunting Academy with a different set of equipment. Asuna sports a dark red leather tunic with a lightweight copper breastplate and leather pants with boots up to the knees. Hinata had the same equipment but chooses a different lavender colour. Both of them still had their hooded cape to cover their head. In the academy, they were taught how to engage a monster and how to use their technique. They were also allowed to choose their preferred weapon of choice. Asuna chooses a rapier while Hinata chooses a double-edge straight sword and both of them strap their weapon of choice at the left side of their hip.

They went to a nearby stall that sell sandwich for lunch before heading out to hunt. The first mobs they tried to fight are the [Poring]. To the girls, the mob is very cute. When Asuna gave the mob the first strike from her rapier, the [Poring] starts to attack her. To Hinata it was funny to see Asuna poke the [Poring] and when the mob tried to tackle her, she ran away, with the mob bouncing towards Asuna. Together they hit the mobs by giving the mob several thrust and strike from their weapon before the mob shatter into pieces of polygon. After a few [Porings] later, they become more confident in hunting and they dare to solo [Poring] by themselves. Hinata wanted to hit some [Fabre], a caterpillar-like mob only that it is the size of a domestic cat. Asuna refuse to hit it as she is creep out by the mob. Then Asuna suggest them hitting a rabbit-like [Lunatic]. Having a soft spot for fluffy animals, Hinata begged Asuna to leave them alone. In the end, they keep hitting [Poring] till the end of the day.

At the end of the day, they sold their loot to a NPC and they manage to make enough zeny to not only pay for their room but they can spend lavishly on the food as well. They even manage to increase their level after all the experience points they gained. All in all, it was a good day.

The next day, both of them went to hunt at the same fieldagain. This time Hinata focus on hitting the caterpillar-like [Fabre] while Asuna focus on the rabbit-like [Lunatic]. Once again, they level up a little from their hunts. It was on the third day that Asuna overcame her fear towards [Fabre] and Hinata, her affection towards [Lunatic]. They soon travel further and start hunting on [Wolf Cub], [Savage Baby] and [Picky]. With the money they have gathered from their diligent hunting, they are quite well fed. While they can afford a room to themselves now, with all the rooms in the city is still full, they are still sharing the room together. Well, it's not like they want to split anyway. Both of them had bonded throughout this trial.

_**Flashback ends**_

* * *

Hinata is reading the newspaper, Midgard Daily while Asuna is having her half of the breakfast. While she could afford a better breakfast, today she wanted to have the inn's breakfast set as both of them had skipped the inn's breakfast since the third day after getting tired of the same breakfast.

Before Asuna can have her first bite, Hinata suddenly shouted "Naruto-kun".

"What's the matter Hinata?" ask Asuna.

Looking at her friend, Hinata answered "Oh… Ano… It's nothing big. It's just someone I knew from the real world is here in this world as well".

Feeling curious, Asuna move to stand behind Hinata and see what Hinata is reading. The headline of the paper is 'Twin Heroes Save Payon City' and a picture of two boys, one with blonde hair and another with black hair are fighting the boss of the Raid. Both of them then silently read the newspaper and are shocked to find out that they raid the city with just 2 players. The fact that there is neither of them died in the Raid further impresses them.

"Whoa… The two of them challenge a Raid and succeed? Even a 27 person Raid party had 3 casualties. They must be something else" said Asuna gob smacked by their achievement.

Hinata is speechless and she can only nod.

"So, which one is Naruto?" teased Asuna.

Hinata's face suddenly turned tomato-red and stutters forming incoherent words. "Na-na-na-ni? I-I…" and starts poking both of her index fingers together.

"Hahaha… It is so easy to tease you, Hinata-chan" laughed Asuna. "C'mon, let's visit Payon. I want to see the new city. Yesterday's Izlude was not bad but it is kinda small and the architecture is so much like Prontera's. I hope Payon will be different" Asuna continued.

After they had got themselves ready, the two of them went to the Kafra Office to use their Teleport Service. After paying the fees, they are covered in a blinding blue light before they were teleported to Payon. When they opened their eye, both of them are in Payon's Kafra Office. Walking out of the building, the sight of the new town greeted their eyes. It is totally different from Prontera and Izlude. Unlike Prontera which has a heavy influence from the architecture from the Victorian-age, Payon has a more traditional Japanese village atmosphere to it. They walked and toured around the city. While city retain the village feel to it, one can understand why it is called city. It is simply too big to be a village or even a town. The facilities they have is sufficient for them to consider this a city as well.

"This would be a nice place to stay, isn't it Hinata?" asked Asuna.

"Yes. It feels very refreshing here" answered Hinata.

Both of them then continued to sight see around Payon. By the time they have finished exploring Payon, it was already nightfall. Walking nearby the vicinity of the Payon Palace, they heard the sound of people talking.

"... gonna take the offer?" said a person in front of them.

"Chill man, Kirito. Baa-chan always says I got the devil's luck in gambling. It always pisses baa-chan off when she plays poker with me. She used complain that she had bad luck cause I have got all her good luck. If you ask me, I did say baa-chan uses up all her good luck when she married ero-jiji. Oh wait… That's not right. I think it is ero-jiji that has uses up both of his and her good luck when baa-chan says yes to his proposal. Hahaha…" said a familiar voice to Hinata.

Hinata surprised with the familiar voice then called out "Naruto-kun?"

* * *

A/N: I'm evil ain't I to make the ending of this chapter the same like the previous one? Haha. Oh well. The wait is over. Tada… The heroin is here. This chapter is mainly a flashback chapter saying how our heroins meet. By the way, Hinata in this story have black eyes like how Japanese girl should look like. But she will definitely have the Byakugan. That's her trademark other than her fainting and blushing around Naruto. You'll just have to wait the chapter where she gains her Byakugan comes out.

To all the reviewers, you have my heartfelt gratitude. I thank you for taking your time to write your reviews. I had to say this. It is because of your reviews that I can update this new chapter today. Else, you'll probably will have to wait for a few more days. I also would like to specially thanks xedr1c, AnAddictedReader and FinalKingdomHearts for your frequent reviews. Who knows I might even reward you with a cameo appearance in this fic? Hahaha... Wow. Another review fishing idea alert!

There will be no potion spamming. It would defeat the purpose of being a death game. The usage of healing items will be restrictive. However, there are some features which will serve as shortcut hotkeys. How? Well, take a guess. Don't wanna spoil that for you. ;)

Let me update you readers a little about myself. For this week and the next few weeks, I will be quite busy. Convocation, family function and job hunting. :/ In any case, I will keep on writing this story. Just that the updates is not as frequent as I would like. Then again, that's what reviews are for. After a busy day, reading reviews gives me the motivation to keep writing so that I can update my work as soon as possible.

By the way, after publishing 7 chapter, only do I realize that the "less than" and "more than" symbol couldn't be used. I usually use that two symbols to highlight a skill, weapon or location for easy reading in my MS Words. In any case, from this chapter onward, I will use the "[]' to highlight them. I will also be going back to the previous chapter to add this highlight.

Till my next update, Zephryc


	9. Chapter 9: Boys Meet Girls

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Naruto and Ragnarok Online. I only borrowed the concept and characters from Sword Art Online, the characters from Naruto and the world of Ragnarok Online.**

Let's start the new month with another chapter.

Haha… I see most of you reviewers aren't happy with my last chapter. All but 1 reviews for chapter 8 says I'm evil for doing what I did. Blame the series producer. They taught me the skills of making a cliffhanger. Hahaha... Objective's achieved! Being disappointed with no progression of the story means you have expectation for this story. Well, to me while that chapter didn't have much progression in terms of story, it did introduce the heroin and how they met. So, I'm not sorry doing so. ;)

By the way, when you read a fanfic about SAO or any other fanfic for the matter, I expect you to know the minor characters from that novel/manga. At the end of the chapter, there is a meeting that features one of the most promising characters in the story yet relatively untouched. However, if the readers don't know about him, it's ok no harm there. You can still enjoy the story. For those who knows however, will know the significance of that scene. I actually stopped the chapter at the previous scene, then I suddenly got this idea when I'm trying to get my sleep for the last scene and it freaking blow my mind. This is probably one of the chapters I enjoyed writing the most.

* * *

**CHAPTER 9**

"Naruto-kun"

Naruto hearing his name being called out turn his head to see who is calling him. Standing a few steps from him is the heiress of the Hyuuga Corporation, Hyuuga Hinata.

Naruto didn't expect to see someone he knew from the real world, blurted out "Hinata? Damn… Not you too…" seeing a person he knew was in this death game.

Hinata taking it the wrong way suddenly become teary eyed thinking that Naruto isn't glad to see her.

"A-Ano… I-I'm Sor-Sorry for bothering you, Naruto-kun" said a teary-eyed Hinata before she ran in the opposite direction.

Before Naruto can comprehend what had happened, he stiffened a little being the recipient of an angry and intense glare from a girl with hazel-chestnut hair.

"Asshole". That single word which is laced with pure venom was directed at him said by the girl before she turned back and ran after Hinata.

Needless to say Naruto is confused as hell at what had happen. It is pretty ironic actually. Being as popular as these boys are, they know nothing about girls. Nothing at all. Being popular with girls doesn't mean they are tactful with them. Naruto being as dense as he is with the fairer sex, is confused at the turn of events. "What the fuck happened?" ask Naruto while turning his head to face Kirito.

Kirito being there the whole time just shrugged his shoulder. He too finds girls are a form of creature he can never understand. He had one back home by the name of Suguha and have lived with her since he can remember and till today, he can't really understand her. But this time, Kirito knew what happened or at least what the girls are thinking as Kirito see this whole conversation from a third person perspective.

"Dude… A girl that I assume you knew called out to you. Before any greeting of the sorts, you said and I quote "Not you too". Think how she would feel. I gotta say her friend has every right to call you what she call you earlier… You are an asshole" explained Kirito while he emphasize the word asshole by quoting it using his fingers.

Naruto just smacked his palm on his face and internally cursing his own stupid mouth. One day, that mouth of his is gonna get him into a lot of trouble.

"Let's go after them and apologize, Naruto. Since both of you knew each other, I think it is better to clear this misunderstanding" said Kirito.

With that said, both of the boys ran after the girls into the empty streets.

* * *

Hinata is currently crying at the river bank under a sakura tree. She had a crush on the blonde boy ever since the first time she saw him. Her father and Naruto's father are business associate and they knew each other from attending some of the function. She still remembered the first time she saw him. She was so mesmerized by his charming smile that she was just stunned looking at his face when he introduces himself to her when they first met. Ever since then, she had always enjoyed attending these dinner function as this gives her a chance to speak with him though she never really did have the confidence to approach him during these dinner. It was always Naruto who comes up to her to start a conversation.

Today however, hearing what Naruto said really cut her heart deeply. While she knows that they are nothing but friends, if you could even says that since other than meeting during the dinner, she never really have any contact with him. However, it still hurts when your crush is not happy to see you. She went as far as dropping by his Facebook profile every so often just to check what's new is happening in his life damn it!

Asuna is looking at her friend crying and decides to give Hinata some space. While standing there, Asuna just felt pity for the girl. Although she just recently knew Hinata, she is already very fond of her. Asuna doesn't have much friend in the real world. Not to say she is unfriendly, but it was her circumstances that doesn't allow her to bond with her friends. She has been forced to attend so many supplementary lessons by her mother that she doesn't have the time to hang out with her friends from school. Whenever her friends invited her to any gathering sessions, she would always have to decline as she can't seems to fit these gatherings into her busy schedule. As a result, her friends will all be very close to each other and this always make Asuna felt left out with her group of friends. The few short days living together with the shy girl, she got to know Hinata and she realize that she is the kind of friend she always wanted. The kind of friendship that will stood the test of time.

While looking at her friend, Asuna notice there are somebody approaching them. Turning around she didn't expect what she saw. She expect the boys will come after them and apologize to Hinata. She is already halfway wanted to give them another scolding when she realize in front of her wasn't the two boys. It's a group of men. Immediately her hand grips her rapier at the side of her waist.

Noticing her hand jump to her weapon, one of them at the front of the group whom she thinks is the leader of the group hold up his hand and say "Whoa… Chill pretty. I heard there is some sobbing around. So, what happened? Anything we can help?"

Seeing the friendly nature of said person Asuna relaxed a bit. She walked towards Hinata and places her hand on Hinata's shoulder. Hinata had stopped her sobbing earlier when Asuna turn around just now and immediately tense, ready to strike.

"Nothing much. Umm… Thanks for asking. We are about to leave" said Asuna politely.

"Oh. C'mon pretty. We just got to know each other. Why leave so early? Why don't all of us go to one of the bar in the city and enjoy, have some fun. Your friend there needed it I'm sure" offered the leader and the rest of them just laugh and grin.

Asuna and Hinata are now feeling very uncomfortable. While the leader seems hospitable, the others don't seems to hide their intention that well. They have been grinning lecherously at them. That's the reason why the first equipment they bought is a hood to cover their appearance. It is just their luck that they forgot to cover their appearance when they met Naruto and his friend.

Another one then said "C'mon. It's not like your parents is here to scold you for coming home late or anything. We are adults in this world. No parents to order us, no school, no work. It's a paradise".

Then another one chip in and what he said struck fear to the girls as he doesn't even bother to hide their intentions "Come and have fun with us. Think about it, you can enjoy the pleasure of you know... adult recreation while keeping your virginity if you are still one".

When he said it, the rest of the group laughed out and cheered out loud. They are getting rowdy and judging by their excitement, they won't take no for an answer. The leader just smirks a little at them.

Both of the girls are now huddled together. They have been surrounded. To their back is the river. While they can jump into the river and make a break for it, they are pretty sure these guys can catch up to them. To make matter worse, they are slowly approaching them. So, running is not an option. So, they decided to fight them off and both of them start drawing out their weapons.

The guys seeing they started drawing their weapon, they just laugh out loud. One of them said "Feisty. That'll be good. I liked that. Now I can't wait".

The leader just gave a sigh and said "Honey, you know you can't reduce our HP while in the safe zone right? So, be a good girl and come with us. Like one of my friend said, you don't have to worry about your virginity if that is what got you worried. Your body will still be pure like you haven't even had sex before. We will even teach you all about sex hands on. Talk about mind rape, hahahaha... C'mon what do you say?"

Hearing that Asuna grabbed her rapier even harder. While what they say is true, engaging sex in a virtual world will not break her hymen, but will it still not take her virginity? What is virginity? Is it as long as the hymen is not broken, they are still virgin? How does one define virginity? All these questions ran through her mind. But there is one thing she is clear and Hinata would think the same way. There will be no way these scums are going to have their way with them.

Hinata too is afraid. Her hand is shaking in terror while holding her sword thinking about what they will do to her. But there is one thing she knew. If the horrible fate wanted her to go down, she will not drag Asuna with her. She said in a stuttering voice "If-if… you all wi-will… let my friend leave. T-Th-Then…"

Asuna eyes open wide hearing that. The magnanimity of Hinata knows no bound. She didn't even know her a week ago and here she was bargaining for her freedom instead of her own. There and then she knew Hinata is one in a million. There is no way she is going to leave Hinata behind now. Before Hinata can even finish her sentences, Asuna shouted "Hinata, there is no way in hell I'm leaving you behind".

"Hahahaha… That's cute of you. Who says we are bargaining? We want the both of you. You can't kill off yourself here either. We can just drag you back and have our way with you. It's just… a formality that we asked. We have no intention of hearing any rejection, pretty" said the leader.

He then signaled for one of his men to take them by force. The guy nearest to Hinata walked towards her with his sword raise to intimidate her. Hinata was already shaking with terror before and she is even more intimidated now. When the person who are walking towards her is charging in with his sword, she shut her eyes tight and shouted the only thing that came to her mind "NARUTO-KUN. HELP".

The next thing Hinata heard is a shout of pain. From who she had no idea, but she is pretty confident it is not Asuna as it seems to be a sound that should be coming from a man. Opening her eyes slowly, there he was, the person that tried to attack her is on the floor groaning and there is another person standing beside him. The person wore dark orange jeans with some black stripe to it. Moving her head up to see who saved her, imagine her relief when it is Naruto who is standing there with one of his leg stepping on the man on the floor with his hand still on his sword which is stabbed at the man's shoulder.

There he was, her crush coming in at the last moment to save her from harm. How many times had she dream of this? Not to mention the dream usually move on to her giving Naruto a very passionate kiss for her thanks which is usually the start of a very very pleasant dream. However, this is different from her dream. Although Naruto did save her, they are still vastly outnumbered. There are only 3 of them when the other group has 8 of them.

Then from the back of the other group another voice is heard saying "I suggest every one of you to leave here. While your HP is protected in the safe zone, sword fighting in the safe zone is still allowed. Getting hit by these swings is very painful. Very very painful."

Everyone turned their head to see Kirito with both his hand in his pocket leaning on a tree nearby before getting up and unsheath both of his sword from his back.

The men growled and one of them said "What about the both of you fuck off and mind your own business. Then we will leave you twerps alone."

This time Naruto interject "It is already my business when you guy are harassing Hinata-chan."

"Hahaha… You guys think that in this world you can play hero huh? You guys are terribly outnumbered. Now scram kids while I'm still forgiving enough to let you walk away after hitting our man" said the leader, his patience wearing thin.

Kirito trying to antagonize these men purposely ignore their threat and just said to Naruto "Hey, can you handle these faggots? They seem pretty pathetic. Seeing as it is your girl that are getting harassed, I thought that maybe you'd like to show off your skills in front of her".

The men hearing this is fumed. They wanted to beat the shit out of him after hearing that and Kirito will be their main target with his cocky mouth.

Hinata on the other hand blushed up a storm when hearing Kirito said she was Naruto's girl. Asuna meanwhile is worried. While the odds are better now, they are still being outnumbered 2 to 1. Kirito antagonizing them is just going to make matters worse.

For Kirito, there is a reason to antagonize them as there is always a reason for every moves he makes. He is provoking them to attack him instead of Naruto since Naruto will need to defend the other two girls while fighting. His place also seems limited and Naruto will have to fight while minding the girls which just make the task harder for his blonde friend.

"Aint'cha a bloody cocky kid" the leader said. "Looks like we will have to teach you a lesson in humility. Your parents are going to be grateful to us". He then proceeds to call out 3 of his men and said "Three of you handle them" pointing towards the group of Naruto, Hinata and Asuna. "The rest of us will have to teach some brat to learn some respect".

Seeing his plan worked out, Kirito smirk and further provoke them "Respect? I don't see anything respectful from any of you when you are trying to get in the pants of two lovely ladies over there. Well, I guess that is unavoidable. Look at how fucking ugly you all are. Even your mother doesn't want anything to do with any of you."

That's it. They snapped. All 5 of them rush towards Kirito, brandishing their weapon. Kirito with great dexterity evade their slashes and thrust. From the way they are blindly attacking him, he know that neither of them knew how to properly wield a sword. Their stances are flawed and there is so many opening he can take advantage of.

"STOP. RUNNING. AROUND" shouted one of the man everytime he miss his slashes.

Kirito with his higher stats parameter jumped back, creating a huge distance between him and his attacker. "Are you as stupid as you are ugly? No one in their right mind will stand still and let you hit them."

Another one roar out of frustration and charged in.

Kirito then immediately accelerate towards the charging man. Taking note of the opening the man left open, Kirito uses one of his new sword's technique [Explosion]. The blade glowed and there is a blast when the blade made contact with the man and the charging man is sent right back to his comrades unconscious. Since they are in the safe zone, there is no reduction in their HP. However, the pain sensor is not turned off anywhere in the game. That includes in the safety of the city. Even though the pain is reduced the explosion still packs quite a lot of power.

Satisfied, Kirito gave his remaining attacker a cocky look before saying "If this is in the field, your friend there is already dead."

Now down to the four of them, they look at each other. "Attack together" ordered the leader and they all charge in together.

This time being more wary of Kirito's ability, they attack with more teamwork. They manage to graze their weapon against Kirito to which Kirito just grit his teeth and bare the pain and keep on fighting. This is a sword fight. There is no way he is going to lose a sword fight to a bunch of amateurs. His pride won't let it.

Although they coordinate their attacks, Kirito prove to be a prodigy in Kendo once again. It is not long later when Kirito parry one of a strike and he immediately thrust his other sword towards the throat of his attacker. As like his first victim, he didn't drop dead and break into polygons. Instead he kneeled on the floor coughing. Kirito with a swift motion uses the blunt edge of his sword to hit the back of the neck of the coughing man causing the man to go unconscious. All the experience from playing this game during the beta phase, he realizes that the damage from blunt force deals more pain even though it is less damaging.

Then all three of the remaining enemies attack Kirito in a three pronged attack. Kirito react by dashing towards the one attacking from the left. With Kirito's superior speed, he reaches his target earlier while the other two is just halfway to him. Kirito and his target traded some strikes before the other two reach him from his rear.

He heard the incoming attackers shouted out some technique's name. Anticipating a strong attack coming from his back, Kirito in a swift turn, maneuver himself to the back of his opponent while thrusting his sword between the gaps of his arm. Using the tip of his sword as a fulcrum, he pushes his opponent's body in the way of the attack. Being too late to stop the attack, both of the sword technique hit the man square at his chest and stomach knocking the wind out of him and he fall down gasping for breath and in pain.

Shocked from hitting their comrade, the two attackers was stunned for a moment wondering how the hell that happened. Kirito took this opportunity to quickly land a strike at the back of his next target's knee to make him kneel down. In that position, it just took a blink of an eye for Kirito to put a blunt strike to the back of his neck knocking him out immediately.

Kirito however didn't relax after taking down yet another man. Before the body of his fourth victim fall to the ground he already rush in to take down his last opponent, the leader. However, the leader snapped out from his daze after hitting his comrade, manage to dodge the strike last second and instinctively lash his sword out. Not expecting that, the sword grazes Kirito on his right cheek and there is a red line to indicate that he had been hit. Kirito just wince a little at that pain and look at him with an even more serious look. The leader meanwhile takes a few steps back from Kirito seeing he is being outclassed by him.

Kirito thought of luring him into attacking him, relaxed his posture a bit and took a look at where Naruto is standing with the girls. As expected, Naruto had already deal with his three opponents and is watching the duel between him and his last opponent. "Looks like you are the last one left. Care to join your friend?" asked Kirito trying to provoke him again.

The leader growled and in rage rushes in to tear the kid in front of him a new one. This of course is what Kirito wants. Exploiting a rage induced berserker is like taking a candy from a baby to him. Since he is the only one left, he took his time to read his strikes and dodges them. Kirito knew that dodging a berserker's wild swing is easier than closing in to hit their exposed weakness. While he is pretty confident he can hit these exposed weak points, he also know that with adrenaline and rage, his opponent wouldn't care of the pain and would eventually be able to get a clean hit on him which his opponent will capitalize on. So, instead he is trying to wear out his opponent by dodging his attack.

When the leader starts to slow down from the fatigue, Kirito knew it is time to finish it. Decided he can afford to use some of his stronger technique which have a longer delay, he power up his technique and shouted [Vorpal Slash] and he suddenly dash forward is a much faster speed he displayed earlier. The technique hit the target at the stomach and his target bend over gasping for air from the force of the attack. However, Kirito is not finished. He power up his second technique from his other sword, his [Crimson Edge] glowed and he shouted [Crimson Lotus] and performed half a dozen of strikes on the back of his opponent in a speed that is almost impossible to follow. However that is not the end of the technique, a second after Kirito finishes his last strike, each of Kirito's strike that connects on his opponent body exploded finishing the 12 combo technique. The resulting explosion is so strong that Asuna fell on her bottom. If they are not in the safe zone, she had no doubt that the man at the receiving end of that technique will most certainly be dead.

The leader was thrown face down a few feet from where he was standing previously and groaned in pain. Kirito had to give him some credit though. Although the 6 strikes he hit on his body was not on any weak point, he admit that he hit pretty hard and the explosion that follows it is quite powerful and should knock him out. Since he is not knock out, he must have a pretty high tolerance to pain or his DEF stats is pretty high. In any case, he knew the battle is finished. No matter how resilient to pain they are, [Crimson Lotus] is called one of his most powerful techniques for a reason.

"Damn… As always, everytime I see Kirito uses technique after technique with his dual wielding ability it just makes it clear that his dual wielding is cheating" said Naruto in a pout. "I've gotta admit that is a real nice combo. The [Vorpal Slash] provide the boost in speed to get behind his opponent and his finishing [Crimson Lotus] just deal the damage to take him down" Naruto explained the choice of Kirito's technique in finishing his duel to no one in particular but just feel the need to show off.

Hinata just giggled at Naruto's statement. While she is indeed impressed with Kirito's display in his skill, she is more wary of Naruto at the moment. Years of crush does that to you.

Asuna is still sitting on the ground, her eyes still wide with disbelief. What she had witness is a display of a combination of swordsmanship at it's highest level and the best technology of visual effect at it's finest. Truly it is a stunning sight to behold.

The sound of people groaning in pain can be heard. Even though most of them have fallen unconscious, some of them are still conscious even though they are still lying on the ground in pain. They won't be troubling the girls anytime soon.

Seeing that everyone has been taken down, Kirito wanted to move towards Naruto when he saw Naruto is talking to Hinata. Not wanting to disturb them, Kirito walked towards Asuna. Reaching her, he extends his right hand to help her to stand up saying "Need a hand?"

It take a few moments for Asuna to comprehend his gesture before she nodded her head and lifted her right arm and take Kirito's hand to have him pull her up. She could feel his strong arm pulling her up. However, perhaps of her shocked, the moment she stands on both her feet, she stumbles a little. With Kirito's previous action of pulling her up towards him, the momentum from the pull causes Asuna stumble forward into Kirito's chest.

Kirito is startled a moment when Asuna suddenly stumble towards him. He took a step back to support himself from the sudden momentum from Asuna.

Asuna quickly withdrew her head from Kirito with her cheek growing a little pink. "Umm… Thanks for your help" said Asuna without looking at Kirito's eye.

Whether she is referring to them helping them with the players they have just beaten or he offering his help in helping her to stand, he had no idea. He just assumes it's a bit of both and said "No problem." and gives her a smile. Then his face turned into a worried look and asks her "Are you hurt or anything? Those guys are pretty rough; I hope you didn't get hurt or anything".

Seeing his smile and hearing his concern for her makes Asuna blushes up a storm. Not trusting her voice at the moment, she just shook her head to tell that she is not hurt.

"Good to know. Let's get there" said Kirito pointing to where Naruto and Hinata were and the both of them walked there.

"Naruto" Kirito called out when he is walking towards him.

"What?" Naruto replied.

"Let's get somewhere else where we can talk and have some light snack. I think they needed some place to sit down and take their breath after everything that had happen. Why don't we find a place to have some light snack and we can all sit and talk?" suggested Kirito.

"Yeah. That is a good idea" said Asuna while Hinata just nodded to agree to the plan.

"All right then. Let's go to…" said Naruto.

"We're not going to the Ramen shop if that's what you are thinking" said Kirito already walk towards the destination he had in mind. "Come, follow me. I know of a good place which sell some traditional Japanese sweet not far from here" Kirito continued.

Naruto just slumped his shoulder in defeat. Hinata giggled at Naruto's antics and Asuna had no idea what to say other than follow the group to their destination.

* * *

_**At the sweet shop**_

The four of them just seated themselves at a table before a NPC waitress came to greet them and took their orders. It took a few minutes for the girls and Naruto to choose what to order while Kirito already knows what he wants beforehand.

After the NPC left, Naruto breaks the ice by apologizing to Hinata. "Hinata-chan, I'm so sorry for what I said earlier. I don't meant that I'm not happy to see you. I mean… I'm happy to see you. Wait, I mean I'm happy to see you, but I'm kinda hope of not seeing you here. You get what I mean?" said Naruto nervously.

Asuna and Kirito sweat dropped at his explanation. Hinata meanwhile tilt her head slightly left to give a confused look.

Since Naruto sits in front of Hinata, he saw her expression. That action along with her confused expression causes Naruto to realize just how cute she was. "Wait? Where did that come from?" Naruto thought.

To save Naruto from shooting himself in the foot again, Kirito explained "What he meant is that he didn't expect to see you here in this death game. And if given the chance, he wished that the meeting is done outside the game. Then at least he will know that you are safe. But all in all, he is glad that you are fine and well today."

After finishing his explanation, both the girls giggled which then escalate to laughter. The sight of the Naruto making incoherence sentences to Kirito giving an overly serious explanation to Naruto's gibberish is very funny. Well to the girls at least. Both the boys have to admit, the sight of seeing the two girls laughing even at their expanses (in this case, mostly Naruto) is a very welcoming sight and it is totally worth it.

They keep on laughing until the waitress came back with their order.

"By the way, Hinata-chan I believe I haven't introduces my friend. He is Kirito. But I think you have heard of his real name, Kirigaya Kazuto." said Naruto introducing Kirito to Hinata.

Hinata bow her head a little to acknowledge him. "Nice to meet you Kazuto-san. Naruto-kun told me a lot of about you. I'm glad I've finally met you. Though I have to agree it would be better if we have met at a different circumstance."

"What a formal introduction. Damn… The Hyuuga's really drill manners deeply into their children" is what both the boys thought. Meanwhile Asuna thinks a bit differently. "Hinata-chan is really acting like a wife being introduced to her husband's friend".

Kirito bowed his head to acknowledge her. "Kirito is fine. Nice to meet you too Hinata-san. Naruto also told me a lot about you".

Hinata blushes at the thought of Naruto talking about her and start twiddling both of her index finger together.

"So, who is your friend?" asked Naruto.

Hinata jolted from his question and introduces her friend. "Pardon my rudeness. This is my friend Yuuki Asuna."

"Hi. You all can call me Asuna. That is the name I used in the game as well" said Asuna.

"Hinata-chan. C'mon don't be so formal. We are with friends here. Your dad is not here. So, be yourself like you should when you hang out with friends" said Naruto.

Hinata just nodded.

They then proceed to talk about what they did the whole week. It is mostly the boys asking the questions and the girls answering them.

After two hours of conversation, the boys now roughly know what the girls are capable of. To be honest, the girls are a far cry from being ready for any Raids. But they still have some real skill in sword fighting to back them up even though they are inefficient in leveling up. Well, you can't blame for their slow progress as they keep on hitting the weaker mobs even though they are ready for stronger mobs. They guess it must be the lack of experience playing any form of RPG that the girls are having trouble leveling up efficiently.

"Well, in any case, why don't we party up?" suggest Naruto. "Now that I know Hinata-chan is in this world, I don't feel comfortable leaving her on her own" said Naruto specifically to Kirito.

"Yeah. I agree. If Suguha is here I too won't leave her to fend for herself. So, you girls have any place to stay?" asked Kirito.

"Ano, we have a room in Prontera Inn. So, maybe we can meet at Payon tomorrow to party up?" said Hinata without any stutter as she is already getting used to their company. The two hours of chatting have removed all her inhibition and can be really comfortable with this new group.

"Forget about the Inn. We have room at the Heroes Quarters. Since we can have a guest each to our room, you can share the room with us. Since Hinata knows me better than you Kirito, she will be staying with me. So, Asuna will be staying with you" suggest Naruto.

Hearing that arrangement, Hinata blushed up a storm again. To share a room with Naruto-kun. The very thought of it make her all flustered.

Asuna too had a shocked look on her face. During this two hours she got to know both of the boys. While she knew they are decent and can be trusted, it still doesn't change the fact that she had never once share a room with a boy. Heck, she barely had any male friends in her circle of friends since she came from an all-girls school.

"Naruto" Kirito stare at Naruto while the rest look on. Then with a smirk, he continued "If you want to sleep with Hinata, just say it. Asuna and I know not to bother you".

Hinata whole face turned red from that statement while Naruto is all embarrassed and is talking gibberish. It is a great achievement considering Naruto is not easily embarrassed. Asuna meanwhile is chuckling with placing her hands at her mouth to be proper.

"Well, in any case, the girls will have a room to them and we will share a room" said Kirito.

Naruto gave him a confused look before saying "We can only set one guest per room smart ass"

Kirito sigh before explaining it further "Yes and no. The room only has one slot for the name of the guest. But that doesn't mean the room can't have more guest. At the guest slot we just change it to party members then all party members can use the room. So, if all of us form a party and both Naruto and I set our guest slot to "party members" then, our party will have two rooms. Naruto and I will share one and Asuna and Hinata will share the other one. The only downside is that we will be able to come in and out from your room as you girls will be able to come in and out from our room too. So are both of you girls comfortable with such arrangement?"

"I have read in that only the owner can open the door. Since, Asuna and me are just guest, we won't be able to open the door unless the owner of the room we will be using opens them" said Hinata as she remember one of the restriction of the room sharing.

"Oh. Don't worry about that. That is actually the default setting for all the room. You can change the setting by reducing the privacy factor to allow guest to open the door as well" answered Kirito.

Both of the girls sweat dropped as the entire week when they stay together, Asuna always need to have Hinata open the door for her whenever she wanted to go back to the room or leave the room. So, the girls agree to their suggestion. Judging from their earlier conversation, the Heroes Quarters seems to be lot more comfortable than their 1 bed room at the Inn. So they agree to it and soon the new party starts walking towards their accommodation.

* * *

_**At the Heroes Quarters**_

Standing in front of their respective room, they are setting their room to allow guest into their room. Touching on the guest slot, some options came out. Among the options are [Guild Members], [Party Members] and [Individual]. Choosing the option [Party Members], the two rooms are now accessible to all of them.

"So, Naruto will stay with me in this room here and that room will be yours" said Kirito.

"All right. Thanks again" said both of the girls.

"Don't sweat it" replied Naruto.

"Hey, before you all go to sleep, I want to tell you girls that there will be a training course tomorrow morning at 9. We will meet here in our room" said Kirito.

This got a confused look from the girls. "Training course? We had done the tutorial at the Hunting Academy" said Asuna.

Kirito replied "The Academy just gives you the basic like how to activate technique, how to fight, how to equip new equipments. They are all basics and not enough if one want to survive in this new world."

"That's true. The Academy is not enough. They just give the new players on how to hunt weak mobs. Teach them the basics of fighting. Look, Kirito and I will be going to travel to another city for our next agenda. I'll be honest, the place we are going, even with Kirito and I together, we will have problem protecting the both you. So, I have discussed with Kirito earlier that we should give you some training course in how to survive in this game. At least when we are not by your side, both of you will be able to protect yourself" explained Naruto.

"I… I want to join the Raids. You guys told us after the Raids there is an interview that there will be broadcast to the main website where people outside will watch right? I want to tell my parents I'm doing fine here. That I'm ok so they don't have to worry… too much" Asuna said looking at the floor.

Looking at Asuna looking so depressed stirs something in Kirito to protect this fragile looking girl. "Whoa, now where did that come from?" Kirito thought. He then moved closer to Asuna and placed his hand on her shoulder and said "If that is the case, I will help you to get strong enough to send that message to your parents. Taking a quote from Naruto, Believe it".

Wiping some tears from her eyes Asuna said "Thank you Kirito-kun and goodnight" unconsciously using the suffix "-kun" while giving him her radiant smile before retreating into the room with Hinata.

Kirito just stared at the door which Asuna was standing at previously before retreated into her room. Suddenly he felt an arm on his shoulder. Naruto flung his arm to his so-called brother from a different mother in a side hug before he tease him by saying "Yeah… Good night… Kirito… KUUUUUNNNNN"

With a tick mark on showing on his forehead, Kirito rebuffed Naruto by saying "Sh... Shut up" and walked to his door. Before closing the door, he said "Hey bro, I'm sorry if I prevented you from getting lucky with Hinata tonight".

This time it is Naruto with the tick on his forehead before he went into the room and do some rough housing with Kirito for his last statement.

* * *

_**At the other side of the door**_

"So, Kirito-kun huh?" teased Hinata sleeping beside her.

Asuna suddenly realize she called him with such an endearing suffix to his name blushes. But she also managed to get in one last tease for the night by saying. "Well, I'm sorry, you and your Naruto-kun won't be able to share the room together."

Hinata just turned her head over to Asuna and stuck her tongue out while closing her eyes as her reply to her tease.

* * *

_**At one of the Payon bar**_

"Those fucking brats" growled the leader who just had his ass handed to him by Kirito.

"Humph" scoffed a man with a hood sitting not too far from him.

Hearing that scoff, the leader confronted him "You have a problem?"

The hooded man turns his body to face him. "You have no idea who you just picked a fight with did you?" said the hooded man. He paused for a moment to gauge his reaction and continued "Yeah. I saw what happened. Out of everyone you can pick on, you decide to pick on the Twin Heroes. The babes are pretty cute but too bad they are under the Heroes' protection now. My advice is to back off. At your current level, you only just get yourself killed if you confront them again".

The leader is getting angrier each passing moment and warned him "You better shut up or else…"

"Hmph… and here I thought about telling you some interesting news I heard. Looks like you are not interested" said the hooded man before he tried to get up from his seat.

"Wait… What is it that you wanted to tell me?" asked the leader, curious of the news. Seeing no reaction from the hooded man, he added "... Please?"

"Since you have asked so nicely, I'll share this information." He paused for a moment before continuing "I heard there is a player that wanted to gather a group of decent players for a Raid. They city is somewhere northwest from Prontera. I heard that city has some pretty good exclusive quest too so quite a lot of beta will be joining that Raid. They will reach that city in a few days but the so called leader wanted to organize his raiding squad so it should probably take a week or two before he starts going for the Raid" answered the hooded man.

"How I can trust this information?" said the leader.

"You can't. It's either you trust it or you do not. Either way, I just told you that so you could get stronger. Seems like babes like strong men. I will be joining that Raid and see if I can meet up with the man in charge. I wanted to have a piece of fun too" said the hooded man.

The leader just grunted not knowing whether that piece of information can be trusted or not. But since that man will be going as well, it should probably be true. So, he took out his right hand and said " Thanks. By the way, my name is Kuradeel."

The hooded man look at his extended hand for a moment shook his hand and replied "I'm PoH".

"PoH? What kinda name is…" Kuradeel can't even finish his sentences when he felt some sinister intent coming from PoH. It was unlike anything he ever felt. The intent coming from him is so potent he felt like he was thrown into a chilly sea and left to drown. How can he do that in a virtual world, he had no idea. The man in front of him isn't someone to be messed with. That much he knows.

"Oh… I'm s-sorry. Never meant to insult you" said Kuradeel.

"All is forgiven" said PoH while removing his hand from their handshake.

Then Kuradeel and his lackeys left the bar.

"Boss, why did…" said a hooded man that approach PoH along with another hooded man before he was interrupted by PoH lifting his hand in a gesture for him to stop talking.

"This game, this new world has so much potential. However, there isn't much going on. There's no conflict. It's too peaceful for my own taste. It's boring. In any good show there is always a protagonist and an antagonist facing off in an epic battle. The media had graciously given me the protagonist by the name of Twin Heroes so it is only fitting that there is a villain that will take the role of antagonist to this story. Kuradeel is merely a pawn for my future schemes. He doesn't have what it takes to be a villain" explained PoH.

"But why target the kids? They are just brats" asked the other hooded man.

"Hmph… I just wanted to tell the world that heroes don't exist. It's just the brats' luck that the media is pretentious enough to call them Heroes and thus paint a huge bulls eye for me" answered PoH before he stand up from his seat and walked towards the exit bar.

" You know Xaxa? Sometimes boss really has this… I dunno god complex? He always gives me the chill when he goes all philosophical like that just now" said one of the hooded men.

The other hooded man named Xaxa replied "Johnny, you know how the boss are. Better the brats than me. You have seen him how he used his dagger. I don't want to be the other side of the team when boss takes his dagger out. As for his god complex, well, you know what they say; some people just love to watch the world burn."

PoH then tilt his head slightly and said "Are you coming boys? It's show time".

* * *

A/N: Phew. This is my longest chapter yet. It's kinda early too. Well, think of it as an apology for teasing you all in my previous chapter. But, my next update will definitely take more than a week. One of the reason I can get this out so early is because I had write this quite early on. So, I just tweak a little and get it out much earlier than expected. Don't expect the next one to be as long. My average words per chapter is around 5k.

As you can see, they already have some mutual attraction to one another. They won't start going out anytime soon though. Their relationships is a slow bloom.

Bet you didn't see Kuradeel coming so early in the story huh? And PoH… Don't get me started. That guy is a villain goldmine. I'm kinda concern with how these villains turn out. They are too OOC for my taste. Johnny Black and RedEyes Xaxa are kinda insane in the novel, but I can't portray them as such a character so early on. Maybe they will be later on. Please comment.

I don't know how to judge this chapter. The issues I touch in this chapter might be a little uncomfortable to some, so I wonder if I should raise my rating here. You know... The stuff about the mind rape part. Please give me your opinion on whether I should raise the rating of this fic.

Anyhow, I really enjoy this chapter. Hope you guys have the same opinion of this chapter. I kinda hoped this chapter gonna break the record for most review in a chapter when compared to the earlier 8 chapters. Please help me do so. At least let me achieve my personal milestone.

Well, I don't have much to say about the reviews. I have said them earlier anyway.

Till my next update, Zephryc.


	10. Chapter 10: Training Begins

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Naruto and Ragnarok Online. I only borrowed the concept and characters from Sword Art Online, the characters from Naruto and the world of Ragnarok Online.**

I'm back. Man, it sure was a hectic week. Between my convocation and my brother's wedding, I just don't have the time to update this story. But man. I really hoped I could get more reviews since it's been so long since I last been on this site. Also, I really like my previous chapter so I thought I could break my record. But I'm not an ass. Just cause the reviews didn't reach my target I won't throw a tantrum and go on hiatus. Thanks to those that wrote the reviews though. I will reply to some of your reviews later on in the author's note.

Take note that there might be a little OOC in girl's character somewhere in this chapter for a small part but that is just for comic relief.

* * *

**CHAPTER 10**

"… up. Wake up".

Asuna with her eyes still close hear someone is trying to wake her up. That person had tried to wake her up several times before that person shook her to wake her up. Asuna still groggy try to get the sleep off her and open her eyes slightly. Seeing a blonde boy trying to grope her, she frantically shout out loud and give the boy a devastating right hook.

"Naruto-kun" is what Asuna heard next as she heard someone crashing to a nearby table and another person rushing to tend the blonde. Next she heard laughter coming from the edge of the door of her room. Looking towards the source of the laughter, she sees a boy dressed in black clothes leaning by the door.

Remembering the events from last night, Asuna turns a shade of red in embarrassment as she realizes she just gave Naruto a punch. "I'm… I'm so sorry, Naruto. I di-didn't mean to hit you" Asuna apologizes.

Still laughing, Kirito give his reply "It's ok Asuna. His head is denser than it looks. Trust me, he had it worse from his mom. Anyway, it's his fault trying to wake you up like that. So, he probably deserve it. That's a pretty good right hook though. You did some boxing before?"

Asuna blushes in embarrassment from Kirito's statement. She then perks her head up and said "Huh? Is he really trying to grope me?"

"Grope you? Hahaha… So that's why you hit him huh? Nah… Naruto's not that kinda person. I'm guessing he gets impatient when you didn't respond to him trying to wake you up so he decides to shake you a bit. I think from your point of view he does seems like trying to grope you" explained Kirito. He then continued "Naruto, if your grandpa knows you tried to grope a girl, he's gonna be so proud of you".

"Yeah... Ero-jiji definitely gonna be proud of me. But then, I don't think I will survive kaa-chan and baa-chan trying to put me six feet under. Knowing baa-chan, she'll probably fix me just so that she can have another go" said Naruto while massaging his left cheek where Asuna just punched him. "Damn… Asuna-chan, your right hook is really something else. You did some boxing before?" repeating Kirito's question.

"Well in any case, you better get ready. It's already 8.30. So, you might want to try the breakfast they provide. Naruto and I will be going to get some ramen. Since Hinata is already having hers, you can eat the one provided in our room" said Kirito before he notices Asuna try to say something and he continue "Don't worry about us. We had them yesterday and the breakfast is the same everyday. So, we have decided to get some ramen for breakfast. The breakfast is pretty good. You should try it."

Asuna sitting on her futon look around to see the tray which was already have more than half of the food eaten. The person who eats it however is not sitting nearby. Hinata is kneeling near to Naruto trying to check up on him while Naruto is all flustered from all the attention Hinata is giving him. "Yeah. I guess Hinata-chan wouldn't mind if Naruto tried to grope her" thought Asuna to herself.

"Naruto, you trying to get Hinata to kiss you to ease the pain?" teased Kirito.

Hinata blushes wildly while Naruto stood up and flip the bird in Kirito's direction and say "Up yours"

"Haha.. I don't swing that way. C'mon let's go. We got a tight schedule today. We'll see you girls back in your room at around 9 all right?" said Kirito.

Both the girls nodded and the boys leave the room.

* * *

_**30 minutes later**_

"Ahh… We've done well to survive until today" said Asuna. "The breakfast is sooo delicious and the futon is sooo comfortable. Even yesterday's bath is really really relaxing" she continued.

Hinata giggles hearing Asuna's exaggeration. Though she too agrees that the place they are staying now is so much better from their room in at the inn. What's more is that they have this place to themselves for free too. Hinata can't help herself to think that Naruto is like her boyfriend providing a place for her to stay. She is a little disappointed that she won't be sharing a room with her crush though. Following this thought her face heat up from embarrassment for having the audacity to even think about it which luckily for her, Asuna didn't notice.

After a few more minutes chatting with themselves, the door slides open and both of the boys walked into their room.

"Man… Ramen for breakfast. I'm living the dream" said Naruto before he took a sit on the tatami near the girls.

"So sorry Naruto. I didn't mean to hit you. I-I just thought…" Asuna said in a meek voice.

"Hahaha… Don't worry about it. I guess I'm at fault too for intruding on your personal space" said Naruto while scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah. No worries there Asuna. I mean look at him. He got the face of a pervert" said Kirito nonchalantly. Before Naruto had a chance to give his retort, Kirito continue by changing the topic of the conversation. "So, let's get to the training course right away".

"Damn... Kirito is really good in side tracking Naruto" is what both of the girls thought.

"Umm... We are doing the training course here?" asked Hinata.

"Yeah. Before we start on combat, we will be giving you some facts and theory which will be essential for the practical later on" said Kirito.

"But we have already know how to hunt mobs from the Hunting Academy in Prontera" said Asuna as she doesn't want to have a few hours wasted on things she already know.

The two boys just smirk at each other before Naruto said "Asuna, if you think that the basics you learn in the Academy is enough, then you made some really big mistake. The Academy only teaches you the bare essentials. To be honest, Kirito and I had died countless time in this game to be as good as we are now."

Hearing that, both the girls get confused. "Naruto-kun if you and Kirito-kun had died countless time, then how come you are... alive?" asked Hinata.

"Oh… Did I forget to tell you girls both Kirito and I are among the beta testers? Anyway, we had played before the official launch of the game. We died then. Countless times too" answered Naruto.

This gets some understanding nod from the girls.

"Before we start though, can you tell me how you allocate your stats?" asked Kirito.

This gets a confused look from the two girls.

"Umm... I mean when you girls leveled up, a menu will pop out to ask you which parameter you want to invest the points in right? They are your stats" Kirito explained.

"Oh…" is the only response from the girls before they open their menu and check their stats. After telling the numerical value of their stats, Kirito and Naruto are in their thinking pose.

"Well, it wasn't too bad. But it wasn't the optimum growth either" said Kirito to Naruto.

This gets a worried look from the girls.

Seeing their worried look, Naruto calm them by saying "Don't worry about it. Your level at the moment is still quite low, so fixing the growth of your stat will be easy. With the both of us guiding you where to invest the points, you'll have an optimum growth in your stats sooner than you think."

"Which leads to the second question. We will need to know your fighting style. Knowing how you fight will make investment of the stats points easier. Don't worry if you don't know your fighting style. That can be taken care of when we visit the field later. Seeing how you fight will give us some idea on what kind of style you are more accustom to" said Kirito.

At that moment, both Asuna and Hinata are in awe. Just two comments from the boys and they already understand that these two boys are really knowledgeable in the game. To be honest, both of the girls had no clue what the stats parameters did other than the explanation from the Academy which is quite brief. Then there is the style of fighting. Is there even a style when it comes to fighting? They just pick the weapon of their choice and try to hit their target while trying their best to dodge each and every attack from their enemies. Never in their wildest imagination that style is crucial in investing stats points.

"Well, in any case, I'll fly through the basics first. The green bar is your HP. That is your life. Don't ever let it drop down to zero. Zero HP means death in this game and death in this game is death in real life as well. Invest on the VIT stat to increase your max HP. The blue bar is your stamina. Using techniques consumes stamina. When stamina becomes empty, your status will become Fatigue which causes your body to be heavy and sluggish. Your control of your avatar will be less sensitive. Not a good status when you are in the battle. Take note that sprinting, swimming, jumping and some non battle actions will consume stamina as well. Stamina can be increases when you invest on STR, VIT and SPR" explained Kirito about the HP bar and stamina bar.

Seeing that the girls understood him, he continued "Then there is Rank. I'm sure you notice there is a big D at the side of you name right? That is your Rank. Rank decides what kind of quest you can take. Some advance techniques will require a higher Rank as prerequisite as well. Later on, there will be more equipment that will require a higher Rank to equip. There are even additional features in the game that will be unlock when you increase your Rank. An example, when you reach C Rank, you can create a guild. There are several methods to increase your Rank. There are some quests that will increase your Rank as its reward. Participating in the Raid events will only increase your Rank to C. Even if you are already C ranked, participating in more Raids will not increase them further. From our experience during the beta phase, there is a Rank promotion test in Prontera but we are not sure how often they are held. In that test, you can increase your Rank when you successfully complete the test."

The girls once again nodded their head to indicate that they understand everything he says. Kirito continue again "So, let's move on to [Techniques]. [Techniques] are pre-programmed moves that the system will guide your body when you use it. They are much stronger than your normal attack and they also boost your speed as well for the duration of your Techniques. I'm sure you still remember my [Crimson Lotus] last night. That is an example of [Techniques]. I'm pretty sure you knew about [Techniques] if you have attended the Academy. However, I need you to know that [Techniques] usually have a delay. Stronger [Techniques] will have longer delay. Delay is the period where your body is vulnerable to attack. So as a rule, don't ever use a [Technique] unless you are sure that you can recover from your delay fast enough from the next attack. This should be something new as well. You learn new technique from equipping new equipment. Open your equipment tab and select your weapon. You can see a tree diagram."

Both the girls did as instructed.

"Now you can see that there is a progress bar next to the name of the [Technique]. When the bar is filled, you will [Master] that technique. A mastered technique will stay with you even after you unequipped the weapon. Besides that the delay from a mastered technique will be shorten as well. Since there is no limit to the number of [Techniques] that can be mastered, it is always good to master a [Technique] from your weapon before you decide to change your weapon" Kirito continued his lecture

Hinata then raised her hand and asked "Ano. There is a tab called [License]. What does it do?"

Naruto chuckle a little seeing Hinata raised her hand to ask a question. This feels like they are in school with Kirito being the teacher.

Not paying any mind to Naruto, Kirito answered the question. "[License] provides you additional [Skill]. In this world, you will need to have a [License] to learn a new [Skill]. As an example, you will need a [Chef License] if you want the [Cooking skill]. [Forging skill] is learned when you obtain the [Smith License]. There are some exclusive [License] which are being offered at a specific city. The [Tailor/Seamstress License] can only be obtained in Payon. That license gives the player the [Tailoring skill]. There is also the [Smith License] which grants the player the [Forging skill] which can be obtained in a city called Alberta. There are more city exclusive [License] but we will know as we progress further in the game."

Asuna then ask "You've said the [Chef License] gives [Cooking Skill]? Where can I obtain this License?"

"The [Chef License] is not city exclusive. So, you can get that License here in Payon. I'll show you the place later. Even Prontera have them" answered Kirito. "Any questions?" asked Kirito.

The girls thought for a moment before they shook their head indicating they have no questions at the moment.

Kirito then went to his thinking position and said "I guess that take cares of the non-battle related function. So let's move on to the battle part".

"The most important thing I can tell you is about critical attacks. A strong hit to the critical spot will instantly kill the mobs. For general mobs, these spots are the head and the heart. From what you have told me last night, I'm pretty sure at one point that you had manage to kill a Lunatic in one hit right? That's because you have hit on its critical spot" said Kirito. "Now, this is where it gets tricky. As you know there are a lot of mobs out there that didn't exist in the real world. Take Poring for example. These mobs are harder to distinguish their critical spot as no one really know where an imaginary creature weak spot is located. Then there are the human-class mobs like Thugs. These mobs are the easiest for us to hunt because Naruto and I are so used to sparring against people in the real world" continued Kirito.

This gets a puzzled look from Asuna which Hinata took notice. "Asuna-chan. Both Naruto-kun and Kirito-kun are national player in the sports of Kendo" explained Hinata which Asuna's earlier puzzled look turn into an understanding one.

"Well, in any case, critical spots in a human-class mob are easier to be taken advantage off because we are fairly adept in hitting those spots after all of our Kendo training. These critical spots are the same as the so-called human soft spots. They are the throat, heart and the back of the head. While there are definitely more weak spots in a human anatomy, in this game, only these 3 are considered critical spots for players or any other human-class mobs. A good hit on any of these 3 spots will instantly kill a normal mob. It is a different story if you are up against other players or a human-class mob boss. They are not meant to be defeated in a single strike, so some changes are done to them. Any hit to the critical spots on us will not instantaneously kill us. However, it will take a huge chunk of our HP ranging of 10% to 20% of our total HP depending on how hard the strike was. It should also be noted that a strike to the critical point hurts a lot too. That pain will cause us to lose focus and our enemies will be able take advantage of it. While the mob boss will not experience any pain, a good hit to those critical spots will dish out larger damage as well. Simply put, survival lesson number 1 is to never expose your critical points while trying to hit your opponent's critical points." Kirito continue his lecture.

"Then there is the status effect. By attacking the eye of the mobs, you can blind them. This is actually a very good tactic. One that Naruto and I used often. When the mobs are blinded, they have a very low chance of hitting you and they won't see where the attacks are coming. This makes blinded enemy the easiest to fight as we can just hit their critical spots without them knowing. However, this status can be apply to us players too. We too can be blinded if our eyes are being attacked. So, survival lesson 2 is to always protect your eyes." Kirito paused a while to let what he said sink in. "Oh. Before I forget, there are some mobs that don't depend on the sense of sight. One of them is the Mandragora. They are a variant of plant mob which attack using its tentacles. These mobs can't be blinded. So don't bother with the tactics when going up against these types of mobs. The same could be said of mobs with heighten sense of smell like the Wolf. These mobs, even when blinded, they can still attack you effectively because they have a heightened smelling sense. As a rule of thumb, any mobs that is similar to the canidae family, its safe to assume they have heightened sense of smell" said Kirito.

"Huh? Canidae? What mob is that? I've never heard of any mob with that kinda name" said Naruto scratching his head trying to think of a mob with that name.

"Ano... Naruto-kun. Canidae is a term used for the family of dogs. They include wolves, foxes, jackals and other species. I think what Kirito-kun tried to say is as long as the mobs have a resemblance to a dog, then there is a good chance that blinding them is not a good idea" said Hinata.

Kirito give a nod to indicate what she said is correct while Naruto said "Wow... Hinata-chan. You are really smart. You really know a lot of stuff".

Hinata blushes at Naruto's compliment and is poking both of her index finger together while saying "I have a few dogs at home. So, there are a few times I came across this word when I'm in the pet store or the vet. That's where I got to know this word".

"Yeah. Well, Kirito doesn't have a dog, so him knowing that word just makes him looks like a nerd" said Naruto offhandedly.

A tick could be seen at Kirito's temple obviously annoyed by Naruto's jab.

Before Kirito can tell Naruto that him not knowing the term just makes him looks like an idiot, Hinata said with a cute frown "Naruto-kun, it is not nice to say that. Kirito-kun is doing Asuna-chan and me a great favour in explaining the working of this world to the best he can".

Naruto cried anime style being chastised by Hinata. Kirito however gave Naruto a smirk before saying "Oh, Naruto. You are so whipped" to which Hinata's face immediately turn inta a deeper shade of red. Asuna too could be seen giggling after hearing what Kirito said.

"Sh-Shut up" said Naruto blushing a little.

"Ok, so where are we? Ah… Well, I think that covers the blind status effect. There are more status effect in this world, but I think those status are pretty straight forward, so I don't think I need to explain much. While progressing through the game, you will know these status effects better. The reason I told you about the blind status and not the other status effect is because our tactics rely heavily on this status" explained Kirito.

This time Asuna ask a question. "Kirito-kun, is there any magic in this world? I saw your technique last night and that explosion seems something that looks like magic".

"Hmm… How do I put this? Magic exist in this world, but they are in a different form than the conventional magic used in a normal RPG game. Also, I don't consider the technique I used last night as magic. There are a lot of techniques that will have some special effects. Some of these techniques are even long ranged, so they may seems like magic and in a sense I think they can be thought of as magic as well, but I personally prefer to call that as special effects. The closest thing you can called magic in this world is called [Runes]. To use [Runes] you must have the [Scholar License] which gives you the [Research Skill]. The use of [Runes] is very wide. You can augment the element of your weapon, you can imbue your equipment with a certain element, you can heal yourself using a healing [Rune] and you can even attack using [Runes]. But at the moment using [Runes] is out of our hand. The [Scholar License] is a Geffen exclusive license. So, until Geffen Raid is completed, we won't be able to use [Runes]. So, when Geffen is opened, we will bring you to Geffen to get the license since Naruto and I have been waiting for that license as well. It is the most useful license in my opinion" said Kirito.

"Why don't we go raid Geffen then? Since Payon is freed with just the two of you, both of you can surely free Geffen as well right? With Hinata and I, it should make thing easier too right?" said Asuna with impatience, tears forming in her eyes.

Both of the boys gave Asuna an understanding look. They know why she is being so emotional when the topic of Raid is brought up. She wants to tell her family that she doing ok in this world. Most of all, she wants to tell her family that she loves them, scared that tomorrow will be her last day. She wants to at least say goodbye if that happens.

Kirito moved towards Asuna and placed his hand on her shoulder. Asuna's teary hazel eyes stare into Kirito's soothing black eyes. She was suddenly filled with a comfort feeling staring into those eyes. She then hears Kirito saying "I will protect you. I will bring you back to your family. I will prepare you for our next Raid so that you can tell your family that you will be going back to them. I promise" said Kirito while extending his pinky in front of Asuna. All this while Kirito didn't realize he uses "I" instead of "we" which he thought he used.

Asuna blushed at Kirito's words and slowly link her pinky with Kirito's while her other hand wipe some of her tears. She then laugh at herself for her stupidity which in turn makes Kirito blushes as he thinks that Asuna's smile is one of the most beautiful sight in the world. The mood is pretty good until Naruto starts to tease them.

'Wow, bro nice going… What do you think I'll be doing? Sitting around and let you beat this game? The way you said it make it look like you will beating this game alone?" said Naruto.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I said we are going to beat this game and bring everyone back to their families" said Kirito.

"No, bro" said Naruto before his expression changes into a teasing one and continued "You said – I will protect you. I will bring you back to your family. Aww… Kirito-kun you are not being honest with yourself. You don't want to bring Asuna-chan back to her family. You want to bring her back to Y-O-U-R family."

From all the teasing Naruto did from yesterday to this morning, Kirito snapped. He removes his pinky from Asuna's and yells out "IMMA KILL YOU" and jumped at Naruto. Naruto of course jumped away from him and ran out of the room with Kirito hot on his tail.

This make both the girls laugh at the boys antics. They laugh and laugh until they realize they haven't actually laughed like this in quite a long time. That includes the time before they were stuck in this death game.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Asuna said "I haven't laugh like that for a really long time".

Hinata agrees with her and said "Yeah. Naruto-kun is really good in making people laugh. I guess he rub it off on Kirito-kun."

"Owh… Really? The way I see it, I think Kirito-kun is the funnier one between the two" said Asuna challenging Hinata.

Hinata of course doesn't back down. "You are delirious Asuna-chan. Kirito-kun might be smart and good looking, but he is no Naruto-kun. Naruto-kun can make you laugh like no tomorrow with his jokes".

"Naruto is loud and brash. Kirito-kun knows how…" and she stopped halfway blushing at what she is about to say.

Hinata gave her a knowing look before Asuna gave her a glare to which she returns. Then both of the girls broke off laughing again, this time at themselves.

A while later the boys come back into the room with busted and swollen lips and black eye. What's more they even have some bandage on their head. Worried that they have gone too far, both of the girls rush to the boys.

"Oh my god… What happened?" asked Asuna while Hinata is fussing over Naruto.

Both of the boys look at each other before starting to laughing out loud and did something with their menu which then makes the boys appearance back to normal. Naruto then said "Hahaha… That's so funny. That is one of the emoticons. You can do sweat drop, light bulb lighting on your head, steams coming out from your ear…"

Naruto keeps listing the emoticons not realizing Asuna and Hinata is really really pissed. Kirito being the alert one already took notice of the murderous intent leaking out from the girls and began to retreat. However he hasn't even took a step back when Asuna said " . " each syllable she took a step towards him. "Stay where you are" she continued. Kirito can't do anything but gulped in fear.

That day, two of the strongest players in Midgard understand that the wrath of feminine fury should never be tempted.

* * *

_**The next day**_

Yesterday, they continued with Kirito's lecture for the rest of the day imparting theories and mechanics in this world. Needless to say, everything the girls had learned was not taught in the Hunting Academy. These knowledge can only be obtained if they had experienced it firsthand. From these lectures alone, the girls realize how ineffective they were in farming for experience and zeny.

The boys on the other hand admit that the girls had very good sense. For a newbie, what they had achieved was pretty good. It is even more amazing when they count in the fact that these girls don't have any help other than getting to the Hunting Academy. While the boys admit that they did better than the girls during their beta phase, they also knew that is largely due to their experience training in Kendo. This world seems like it was tailor made for them to excel.

Today is the day their training will take on the practical side. They will move to the fields and evaluate the skills of the girls and decide what fighting style suits them best. Kirito and Naruto decided the girls are not ready to take on human-class mobs, at least not yet mentally. So, they decide the next best thing, the weakest among the demi-human class, [Goblin]. Demi-human class mobs are mobs that has a humanoid shape, that is to say they stand on two legs, have a head and have two hands. The AI of a demi-human class varies. They can be smarter than a human class mobs, yet some race is less intelligent. [Elfs] is among the strongest and [Goblin] is among the weakest in that class. [Orcs] have less intelligence but they are very tough and strong not to mention very intimidating. Not a wise choice if they just want to test out the capabilities of the girls.

After trekking the heavy woods nearby Payon for about half an hour, they reach a clearing where [Goblin] spawn. After explaining to the girls how to fight with a sword properly, they proceed to ask them to take on some [Goblins] by themselves. The girls are rather nervous as they had not tried to fight something as intimidating as [Goblin]. All these while, they have just been hunting small cute mobs. Their most scary mob is the [Pecopeco] which is a large orange bird with a large beak.

Taking a moment to calm themselves, the girls unsheathe their weapon and proceed to fight the [Goblins]. The boys pay close attention to the surrounding while analyzing the fighting style of the girls. They don't want any interference from other aggressive mobs. That said, the boys can't help themselves to admire the grace of the girls while fighting the [Goblins]. Each movement is followed by a slight shift in their long hair waving through the air. Before them are two angels, sword dancing gracefully. The boys were stunned by their grace and beauty. It would have been a perfect sight if their opponents are the hideous [Goblins].

While the boys are watching them, the girls use everything they learned from the lecture given by Kirito yesterday to make the battle easier. It was as expected. Having someone to teach you the mechanics of battles, and weakness of the mobs makes the battle so much easier. In fact, it is so much easier than when they are fighting against [Pecopeco], a mob that is said to be much weaker than [Goblin].

By end of the day, after observing the way the girls fight, they discuss about what they have learned earlier during the day in the girls' room together. Because the girls were fighting mobs that yields better experience points, they had leveled up several levels. The boys gave their opinion in their style of fighting while the girls gave their input whenever they are asked. By the end of the night, they have manage to find a style which will suit each of the girls and under the advice of the boys they invest their newly acquired stats points into the stats that will complement their fighting style.

The next few days is spent on training the girl's footwork. On the first day when they hunt the [Goblins] they notice that their footwork is not efficient. Though that is to be expected as they have no prior training in martial arts before. In Kendo, footwork is very important. While some would say it restrict a person's movement, an expert knows that having a good footwork will increase the efficiency of the body. You will take less stamina to move the same distance compared to a person who doesn't know the importance of footwork. Since footwork is not achieved in a single day, they keep on practicing their footwork till the end of the week. During that week, they had move on from [Goblin] to the slightly faster [Kobold]. While [Kobold] is a beast class mob, they still stand on two legs and are still pretty much have a humanoid structure. They even wield weapons. The only reason why they are classified as beast class is because they have blue furs and have dog-like features. Since Kobold are much faster and stronger than Goblin, the can properly practice their footwork against these mobs.

It took the girls a few more days before their footwork is considered good by the boys. While their footwork is far from perfect, to come this far in such a short time is nothing short of miracle. By the end of the second week of their training course, the girls have improved on their battle abilities to a point that the boys are comfortable to let them train unsupervised. While the girls still have a long way to go, as for now, the level of difficulty the mobs they will be dealing with won't pose too much of a problem for them anymore. Now that the girls had a clear goal in mind, and have guidance from the boys, the girls decided that they too want to contribute in clearing the game and win their freedom back to the real world.

* * *

A/N: Here's some explanation for the stats. STR (Strength), VIT (Vitality), SPR (Spirit). Stamina is like your MP/SP/Mana/etc. The stats that I confirm will exist in the game that I didn't include in this chapter will be AGI (Agility).

STR, VIT and AGI is self explanatory. These parameter can easily be justify in a game (STR gives higher damage, VIT gives more HP and take less damage, AGI makes you run faster, etc). Higher SPR reduces the rate of depletion of stamina. When you are in a high spirit, you tend to work more than when you are in a low spirit. That what the SPR stats will govern. Stats like INT (Intelligence) and DEX (Dexterity) is under consideration as I'm still figuring out how these stats will influence the players.

Then there is the new feature, Runes which replace magic. I will elaborate more on Runes on the next chapter... or the one after that.

With the reveal of the License system, I think I pretty much answer the question of whether I will be bringing up the job system in the original RO. I have said earlier, I wanted the game to have more freedom and this also make writing the story much easier. I don't want to push myself into a corner by using a job system as I foresee some limitation that I will run into if I choose to use the job system. Using the License system, I will be able to give my characters skills that I want them to have without the need to fuss about job class. Also, I'm trying to combine aspects of SAO and RO together to make it into another new game. After all, RO2 is different from RO.

Then there is starburst98 reviews. You must be a SAO novel reader. So am I. I understand where you are coming from, but I don't like to over-complicate things. There is no such censorship as you have mentioned. I will still implement the Ethics Code, but it will be different from how the novel works. Also, if you have notice, I actually allow harassment in the game. I also allow the use of violence in the safe zone albeit their HP won't drop. Both of the features which Aincrad doesn't allow.

Sincere gratitude to bh who point out my grammar mistakes. Tenses is not my strong suit as you probably know. I will try to improve in my future chapter starting from this one. Please do tell if they still exist in this chapter. This things happen when you are your own beta. When I proof read, I didn't realize those mistake due to 1) I though it is grammatically correct, 2) I automatically fix it in my brain while I'm reading not realizing it was an error. This kinda stuff happens. While I would say I'm fairly proficient in my English, I took engineering and not literature. So, I might have mixed up some of the law of the tenses. Sorry.

Last but not least, I want to give my thanks to everyone who spend their time writing your reviews. My sincere gratitude to all of you.

The next few chapter will be spent on explaining the mechanics of the game instead of progressing with the story. Please bear with me. My intention is to let you to have a feel of the game rather than just put you all into a mindless adventure. Who knows, in the future you might be able to pick up some discrepancies and chastise me about it? ;p I would love to see that as that means you have took a liking to the story.

Also, this is my personal rant. I'm pretty sure the quality of my work is quite decent though I will be the first to admit it wasn't fault-free. I have also read some fanfic with horrendous grammar which ironically gets more reviews from the readers saying how horrible they were. Look, I'm not saying I will tank my quality just to get some reviews. That's just degrading. I for one would hate to read more than half of my reviews say how bad my English is. My pride won't let me do that anyway. But what I meant is that it would be nice to see some readers give some support to me. I have already had 9 chapters and I find some fanfics with less chapters had more reviews than my work. It's really disheartening to see that. I believe my work wasn't that bad or else I won't have so many reader getting pissed off just because I stop my chapter at a cliffhanger.

Till my next update, Zephryc.


End file.
